They worked well. As I said, I went skeet shooting, and for part of the time, I left the gloves on while I shot, and they allowed me enough feeling that I could feel the resistance from the trigger, and they did not affect my shooting. If you want a set of gloves that keeps you warm and lets you use your fingers some, they are nice.

If I had one pair and only one pair of gloves, these would probably not be them. I would never have just one pair, but if limited, I'd like unlined, heavy rubber gloves, teams up with a few sets of thin wool gloves. When I spent a winter working a dredge, this was the best combination. When your wool gloves got wet, you took them off, put on another pair, and put the rubber ones back over them. Any work with your fingers, like threading a nut, required the rubber to come off, and you could work in the wool alone. The thin wool was not enough when you were out in the cold working for a long time, but for a few minutes, they were okay. The neoprene would not have stood up to that envirinment, but there is not much I could have done with only the wool gloves on, that I could not do in neoprene.

I layer my handwear similar to what Hacksaw does.

First layer is wool, Polypro or Thermax glove liners, this allows the sensitivity to do fine motor skill tasks (write, shoot, land a fish), while still having something on to protect my hands.

When hunting in the fall I then put on a pair of wool/thinsulate "flip" mitts so I can still function with my rifle when the mitt portion is flipped back. This set-up is silent and I buy the mitts in a dark colour so they are not as obvious to in-close wildlife when I am lifting the rifle.

When snowmobile, ice fishing or working outside in the winter I wear the glove liners inside a pair of Rabar Hy-Artic Extreme 2- layer gauntlet mitts. These are the same mitts issued to the Canadian Military, with tough horsehide leather palms and a removable wool/thinsulate liner. They are made in both white and black and other than used at military surplus stores I have only seen them available at SIR in Winnipeg seen here http://www.sirmailorder.ca/show_prod.php...1e9ad6da6a8e5fb
I buy these mitts extra large (and sometimes hang them on a string) so I can flick them off in a hurry when I need to.

I also keep insulated leather work gloves in my pack and in the door pocket of the truck so they are handy for rough work.

Everyday winter wear is medium-weight, thinsulate lined leather gloves, not as thin as a dress glove but not as heavy as a work glove.

Mike

In the past I've also worn liners with fingerless wool gloves. Deals with wet really well and still gives you a bit of dexterity...unfortunately it's a great way to melt the poly liners when dealing with fire.

I like the idea of cutting the liners. I have a cheap pair I'm going to try that with.

Good Morning Hacksaw,

I have found the poly liners often develop holes in the index finger and thumb themselves through use; the liners are not very tough, good thing they are cheap (about $4.00/pair).

Does anyone know of a tougher yet still thin glove liner? What would a liner made of spun kevlar or spectra be like?

Mike

If you want light gloves with abration resistance go for mechanics gloves or motocross gloves...they're designed to stand up to abuse. The last pair of Mechanix brand gloves I had which blew out had the seam fail before the fabric...and those gloves hand threaded a LOT of hardware when I rebuilt my motorcyle. I sewed it back up and it was good as new.

I know you can buy cut and puncture resistant gloves for security and law enforcement which are supposed to be amazing space age marvels of glove technology...not sure you could use them as a liner though.

Hi Hacksaw,

I use cut/puncture resistant gloves infrequently but find them to be cold as they are made to be very tight, I do not think they would make a good mitt liner.

I will give mechnics gloves a try, thanks for the tip.

Mike

Do you waterproof your Raber Hy-Arctic mitts with silicone or something? What is the proper way to do it?

Frankie

Hi Frankie,

I have used Snowseal in the past on my Hy-Artic mitts but it was because it was what I had on hand (no pun there). On my first pair got some of the wax-based Snowseal on the fuzzy back of the mitt and it went kind of clumpy. I should really read the instructions on how treat them properly, it is thick tanned leather so silcone may be the best way, I will get back to you on this question.

These are very tough mitts, my first pair I had for 8 years and they are still in good shape, the leather is just starting to thin at the contact points (e.g. palms where I grip the snowmobile handlebars). My new pair I bought last November look great but they are still a little stiff.

Two weeks ago I was towing a trailer in sloppy condition and piles of salty slush accumulated on my snowmobile trailer. My EDC leather gloves were already wet so I cleared the slush off with my hands, this soaked my gloves. I dried the gloves but now they are heavily salt stained and I do not know if I am going to be able to salvage them. I won't be using good gloves to do that again; live and learn.

Mike

Hey Frankie,

I searched the Raber Glove site but found no information on the care of their products.

So I did a search on waterproofing leather and ended up back where I started, at Atsko Sno-Seal waterproofing.

Here are a couple of well written/researched reviews from The BackpackerGearTest site:

http://www.backpackgeartest.org/reviews/...Field%20Report/

http://www.backpackgeartest.org/reviews/...Field%20Report/

The Astko website can be found here, they have many types of clothing/footwear treatment products. http://www.atsko.com/products/waterproofing/sno-seal.html

Standard Disclaimer here: I have no connection with Astko, I just ended up with a BIG can of there Sno-Seal product many years ago and have been happily using it ever since.

Mike

I've used Nikwax glove waterproofer in the past on leather motorcycle gloves...works well to a point just like any other waterproofer.