Early Retirement Extreme Forums

A loose count finds me owning six gloves. They all seem to have served some specialized purpose at some point, but some of them have out-of-the-box overlaps. So this leads me to ask the question:

What is the most universally useful kind of glove?

Fingerless knitted:
Useful: Inner glove, shooting, typing, reading, tying shoelaces, shopping, spring/fall
Useless: durability, any work, hot stuff, winter/summer

Garden gloves:
Useful: Gardening, sailing, heavy work, hot stuff, working out
Useless: Style, winter

Work gloves (yellow/pigskin):
Useful: Style (actually, yes), heavy work, hot stuff, spring/fall/almost winter
Useless: Cycling, sailing, shooting, typing, working out, ...

Tactical Ironclad/Mechanix:
Useful: Cycling, (sailing), tying shoelaces, shooting, hot stuff, working out
Useless: winter, heavy work

Polyester Nitrile coated gloves (https://www.lowes.com/pd/Blue-Hawk-10-P ... s/50119585)

Useful for gardening and using various tools. The only gloves I've been using for any garden/outside work. The nitrile coating protects the hand but is also plenty flexible. Knit back allows your hands to breathe and is good for wiping your sweaty brow on a hot day.

They're only $1 per pair but actually more durable (in my experience) than very cheap garden gloves. Of course the downside is they're meant to be disposable/wasteful.

Leather. I've owned a pair for 15 years, good as new.

chenda wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 24, 2017 4:09 pm

Leather. I've owned a pair for 15 years, good as new.

Ditto. Mine are "driving" gloves with a good grip, and they're about the same age. Unless the temperature dips below about 30F, they're all I need for anything except gardening and endeavors involving bleach.

Below 30F, mittens. They could double as oven gloves, I suppose, but I was gifted a pair of silicone trivets a few years ago and prefer them by a mile for hot things.

Lucky C wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 24, 2017 3:18 pm

Polyester Nitrile coated gloves (https://www.lowes.com/pd/Blue-Hawk-10-P ... s/50119585)

For any kind of outdoor work, I'd +1 these. I just picked up a nice pair yesterday actually. Previously I'd get the cheap multi-packs but they don't last long at all. Buy quality.

The pair I got are pretty thick and so double as a glove to keep your hands warm as well but in anything under 40F only as a underlayer. They'd be very easy to get inside of thick wool gloves.

On second thought, to find the optimal universal glove, score one point for each of the following (and please argue if my criteria are biased).

• Tying shoelaces test (dexterity)
• Cycling/Summer test (sweatable)
• Winter test (good enough?)
• Corporate test (blending in)
• Gardening test (muckable)
• Camping test (burnable)
• Rain test (soakable or resistant)
• Machine shop test (oil stain-resistant)

Edit: add

• Fire test (touching a burning log)
• Puncture test (getting romantic/aggressive with brambles)

Under these criteria, I would rank the Ironclad TacOps (I believe that's what I have or at least something like it .. bought 10 years ago) as the #1.

Intermediate cold weather leather military gloves with wool liners last forever, are fairly waterproof and meet most of your other requirements. Get the full leather gloves, not the flyer's. You can get them second-hand (literally ) inexpensively. You can glom them with bees wax and use a hair dryer to make the wax penetrate the leather, protecting the gloves from oils. I've sold a few dozen pairs of them as military members tend to discard the gloves they are issued here.

To your list I would add the "rose bush test" (thorns) and the "oven test" (high temperature resistance), although the latter is somewhat redundant with the properties that pass the camping and winter tests. The "dishwashing test" could be a more challenging replacement for the rain test. I only ever wear work gloves (gardening, camping, cut protection) and winter gloves (warmth, style), combined those two handle everything I need. I don't wear gloves anymore when plumbing or changing motor oil. Don't need them.

Fire protection: welder's gloves (loose fit leather gloves so you can shake off quickly in case spark goes down inside), racing gloves (nomex & insulation).
Cut protection: can't remember the specific brand name, but they've got little overlapping scales, very flexible, can be palm-only protection or whole-hand. I use them when fishing and need to get a lure out of a thrashing fish.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Firm-Grip-Gr ... /100581002

These are what I use for woodworking (handplaning), camping, and even business casual. No problem raking burning pieces of wood out of a fire. I give them 6 points (by the above). Dexterity is shite though: There's no way getting out a fishing hook.

If you got more money than sense, compare to: https://www.filson.com/original-goatski ... 62021.html

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1Pair-Protectiv ... 2171013784

Cut off the sleeves and write FIlson with a sharpie for a savings of $90.29 + Filson shipping and tax.

jacob wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 27, 2017 3:53 pm

These are what I use for woodworking (handplaning), camping, and even business casual. No problem raking burning pieces of wood out of a fire. I give them 6 points (by the above). Dexterity is shite though: There's no way getting out a fishing hook.

Yup, those are my same work gloves, too

We need to see your camping pictures!

At the swap meet yesterday I saw a few old leather jackets that would provide good glove leather. Or maybe you could get theanimal to send you some of that moose hide. Looks like a fun project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6wLLjbD9sE

George the original one wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 28, 2017 12:45 pm

jacob wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 27, 2017 3:53 pm

These are what I use for woodworking (handplaning), camping, and even business casual. No problem raking burning pieces of wood out of a fire. I give them 6 points (by the above). Dexterity is shite though: There's no way getting out a fishing hook.

Yup, those are my same work gloves, too

Mine too:
https://www.zoro.com/condor-drivers-glo ... /G0059193/

I like the cinch cuff for when dealing with fiberglass and other itchy annoyances.