Work gloves

[Roger Chapman]

From time to time I do a fair bit of dry stone walling using local gritstone some of which is highly abrasive. I have found in the past that the really cheap leather gloves will wear out very very quickly and for the last few years I have been using Ultimate Riggers Gloves from Screwfix having bought a dozen (or more) pairs a few years ago. My stock is now exhausted and looking at the Screwfix website I see that single pairs now cost £5.09. I am sure I didn't pay anywhere near that much last time around. The next glove down in price is the Superior Riggers Glove at £2-39, the sort of price I thought I previously paid for the Ultimates. Toolstation has Superiors at £1.45 but no Ultimates which seem to be £5.09 from several suppliers.

So has anyone any experience with these gloves? In particular do the Ultimates last much more that twice as long as the Superiors when handling rough stone and are Toolstation's cheap stock the same as Scewfixes?

Alternatively any suggestions for durable alternatives that don't involve solid plastic. I have been known to use PVC gloves in the wet but I prefer to avoid such gloves if I can.

Thanks in anticipation.

[John Rumm]

Not much help I am afraid, but like you found the ultimate riggers the best of the lot by far. I also reordered some recently and noticed the large jump in price. I notice they are also now "branded" which possibly does not help.

[dom]

I've not tried them, but knitted-kevlar glazers gloves might be the thing. Downside may be limited warmth.

[Andy Dingley]

If it's dry, then the cheap orange knit gloves with the rubber grip lines across are very good. Because they're so flexible they don't chafe at one spot and wear holes, so they last quite well.

They're quite warm in cold or wind too (trapped air), but miserable if wet. Positively vile around mortar, as it goes through and they trap it against your skin.

[Dave Liquorice]

Might be worth looking at builders gripper gloves (SF:74540, TS:19005). Knitted construction but dipped from the finger tips to wrist. At less than =A31.50/pair (from TS) they are about the cheapest reasonably hard wearing glove you can buy. They probably won't last as long as rigger gloves but they are considerably cheaper.

I don't get on with rigger gloves, I find that the finger tips are to heavy and don't allow decent grip on a wet and slippy stone. The builders gripper gloves are almost like a tough second skin.

[John Rumm]

Very good for humping around sheets of MDF or plasterboard though IME.

[Roger Chapman]

I am now torn between what I know and am used to and trying something different for a change. If I don't go to Screwfix I can at least get a short order post free to try out.

[Roger Chapman]

Toolstation has two types of Kevlar gloves. Lightweight liners at £4.36 and heavyweight at £8.98. I suspect the lightweight would be too lightweight for use on their own. The heavyweight might be worth a try.

[Roger Chapman]

I have tried something like that in the past without being impressed. I thought I still had a pair among the several dozen worn out gloves I keep sampling from but no trace. They must have gone with the last clearout after I got a dozen Ultimate Riggers. The ones I had came from the local ironmongers. I will try again. Are Toolstation's Criss Cross gloves at £0.72 what you meant?

[Roger Chapman]

Looks like I may be getting quite a selection from Toolstation.

I usually find there is enough grip but I did manage to drop a large stone a few weeks back. It bounced off my inner thighs just above the knees and broke the skin both sides despite my trousers. Luckily I had my feet planted wide otherwise it would have wreaked havoc with my knees. As it was I go away with little more than bruising.

[John Rumm]

Its probably worth trying a few others - you may get one that works for the application. Those gripper gloves made from dipped fabric (rather than the orange open weave ones with a matrix of rubber beads dribbled over them), may work quite well for your stonework application.

[Roger Chapman]

snip

Well I now have a few samples to try out when it gets a bit warmer.

I am a bit disappointed with the kevlar gloves. They are knife resistant at scale four on a scale of up to four but only at scale one for abrasion. The grippiness seems to be down to the same sort of rubber dots that are found on the other sorts of knitted gloves.

The slightly cheaper Toolstation cowhide gloves might prove a match for Screwfixes Ultimate Riggers. The leather on finger and palms seems at least similar. The builders gloves seem very grippy but it remains to be seen how durable they prove to be.

Toolstation at least has a £10 free postage limit which may prove useful in future (I actually ordered another few bits and pieces as well as the gloves) but I was perplexed as to why they should insist on a mobile phone number but not a landline number.

Thanks for all the advice folks.