What work gloves do you use for repeated immersion in very heavy impenetrable thickets of poison oak & poison ivy?
I'm covered in black poison urushiol from head to toe!
So far, these are the gloves I've tried (most of which failed miserably)!
- Pics here:
- cowhide? goatskin? deerskin? what skin is best? And, what gloves are available that are long and durable?
- garden gloves? oxy-welder's gloves? mig welders gloves? (what else?)
Cotton/leather work gloves are wholly unsatisfactory:
- They wash well; but the thin leather is worn out after 1 or two uses;
- They're too short to be of much use in heavy infestations;
- Worse yet, the back cotton allows urushiol to penetrate to the skin!
Leather work gloves are slightly better, but still wholly unsatisfactory:
- They're strong enough to take the wear of a few uses in the chapparal;
- But they're too short so my wrists get covered in the black oil;
- Worse yet, an XL comes out of the wash as an L which is smaller still;
- Yet the leather gets hard as a rock after a few wash cycles!
Cowhide oxy-acetylene welder's gloves are also unsatisfactory:
- They're nicely long so they cover the wrists perfectly;
- And, it's no problem finding an XL size to fit my large hands;
- And they're thick enough not to wear through on the first few uses;
- And they come out of repeated wash cycles as hard as serpentine!
- But they're just too cumbersome to use around power trimming tools!
I just tried the pigskin mig-welding gloves with some success:
- They're nicely long, almost as long as the O2 welder's gloves;
- They're all leather like the leather garden gloves so they're strong;
- And the leather is thinner than gas welder's gloves (nice and nimble);
- And, you can get them in XL sizes which don't seem to shrink too much;
- But they too get hard as a rock after repeated wash cycles!
Next I'm going to try the goatskin mig welding gloves:
- Like the pigskin mig welding gloves, they're long & seemingly durable;
- And, they seem to give a bit more "feel" than the pigskin gloves do;
- Also, I can get them in XL sizes (but I hope they don't shrink too much);
- Mostly, I hope they don't get as rock hard after a few wash cycles.
If the goatskin mig welding gloveds don't work, I'll try the deerskin mig welding gloves; but there must be someone out there who has worked in heavy impenetrable thickets of poison oak and/or poison ivy and/or poison sumac who has solved this problem.
What other gloves can you recommend for protection when cutting through heavy thickets of poison oak, when you're covered in black urushiol marks from head to toe?
Requirements are:
- Available in size XL (and needs to stay XL after repeated washing!)
- Must be durable (can't have any cloth) and must cover the wrists!
- But can't be so thick as to hinder the use of power tool controls.
- A bonus would be if it stays pliable after repeated machine washings!