Lightweight Utility Gloves

While doing a search of these boards, a lot of posts mention that gloves are nice to have, but no one has talked about which gloves to get.

These seem pretty reasonable due to dexterity, cost, and size (easy to pack in small spaces), but I wonder about their durability:

http://www.countycomm.com/gloves.htm

People say that leather is best for durability, but it also tends to be expensive and more bulky. Is there any better compact option? Thanks!

For general gardening work I use Wilkinson Sword Grey Leather Gardening Gloves, which cost around $10 from the local DIY store.

Soldier 95 Leather Goretex gloves are a bit more expensive but are excellent if comfort, fit, durability and waterproofness is required.

http://www.militarykit.com/products/gloves/soldier_95_leather_combat.htm

And for colder days Outdoor Design Winterflex inferno Goretex Gloves or Mitts are pretty good as well.

http://www.outdoordesigns.co.uk/products_gloves_winterflexinferno.html

well what do you want to use them for. There are many diffrent gloves for many diffrent application.

I own pretty much all kinds of working gloves, so i can always get the right on for the job.

Just get a pair of good leather gloves, Home Depot, Costco, wherever; they don't need to be anything special. Back them up with several pair of Nitrile gloves in your FAK.

I don't typically use gloves. But becasue I have really callused hands, they are kind of pointless, another one of my problems is, if they don't fit, i won;t wear them.

I bought Hatch Dura-Thin Police search duty gloves but many people on the board criticized my "O.J. Simpson gloves" saying they are not durable and are not warm. Well that's what I wanted. Something to wear in summer in case of emergencies when I would need some protection while being more compact. They have tight cuffs to keep infected blood from running down into the gloves and infecting the wearer through existing cuts on the hand and the wrist-length will not interfere with jacket or shirt cuffs. But so far I've not been EDC them and they stay on the shelves (not compact enough and I don't wear cargo pants)

Frankie

They're worth having if you have to work around broken glass.

I think gloves are an often unthought of aspect of what to have in a EDC bag.

I always carry a pair of thin poly pro glove liners. I use them in the winter for running and cycling (under my bike gloves) and the rest of the year I use as needed.

For my lighter, more compact EDC kit, (like the one I use when running in the desert) I carry surgical gloves as a vapor barrier for the middle of the night when I would just be trying to stay warm and alive. I also carry a shower cap, free at any hotel, as a head cover. They weigh nothing and take up almost no space.

For a pure "keep your hands warm" situation, I like mittens, more specifically Pearl Izumi 'lobster gloves'.

For general use I use leather gloves mostly. I have several pair of military style gloves including nomex, reinforced, shooter style gloves and those are also good. Its amazing how much vibration and cuts can be solved with even thin gloves but if your trying to not get poked when picking up sharp debri, thicker the better, but you lose tactile ability to pick up small objects.

Thanks for the suggestions!



What he said. Durable would be nice, but I could always buy another pair if they're cheap enough. Protective and lightweight would be great though.

I'm looking for some general utility gloves, not winter gloves. The idea is something that I can EDC for some protection in case I have to do stuff with rough/sharp things.

Unfortunately, the size gap seems to jump from first aid gloves that you can stuff in a 35mm film can to even the smallest utility gloves that can't even fit in a 1010 pelican case. (Not that you would... just giving a size comparison)

As Comms said, hand injuries are common because of all we do with them, and gloves seem to be a good option, but they're too big to EDC and have at hand when needed. The point of my question was to see if there's a good solution to this problem.

I'll definitely look at some of the lighter options though. Any other suggestions? Thanks again!

I always take a pair of cheapie Costco leather gloves when I am out and about but never thought to carry gloves as part of EDC. While I will probably never carry gloves for EDC, I will throw a pair in my truck.

Nomex aviator gloves are a good fit for lightweight EDC.

These gloves from CountyComm are my gloves I wear for chainsawing stuff - they don't slip, including after wet and rain. They are also good for handling boards and stuff. They have held up for at least two seasons, no holes or tears. I used to wear them for light outdoors gloves while hiking, but they don't actually keep your hands too warm from wind, I went to $12 Smartwool wool liners for that, they keep my fingers toasty.

Atlas also makes something pretty close to the CountyComm gloves, same anti-slip material. If/when the CountyComm's wear out I might look at the Atlas but wouldn't mind another pair of CountyComms.

This is something that I've considered recently. I carry traditional leather and canvas work gloves in my pack and I decided to add some to my kid's packs as well. We've noticed a lot of garbage on our local trails this fall and though we try to clean up a little on every hike. There's been a lot of broken glass lately so the extra protection is a big plus.

I was surprised to have a tough time finding kid sized work gloves. I thought every hardware store and toy store on the planet would have them, but no such luck. I finally found some at a local dollar store, in the hardware section.

For a buck you can't beat the price but they're actually not bad gloves, they even have double stitching and a bit of padding. My 5 year old loves them because they look just like his Dad's.

I have seen gloves that look identical to the County Comm gloves at Academy Sports and Lowes for about $3/pair.

(No relation to any of the above).

I carry Hatch Friskmaster Max gloves at work and they are great for what they are ment to do (protect against cuts while providing acceptable dexterity). They are also uncomfortable as they are tight and cold so I do not wear them often, but they are always in my coat or cargo pants pocket. They are a real "clue" to the public though, because when you show-up wearing them everyone expects something is going to happen.

I keep normal insulated leather gloves "handy" for other chores both on and off the job.

Mike

I use a pair of Ironclad workcrew gloves for all sorts of light duty stuff, and pair of leather riggers gloves when I need something more hard wearing. The workcrew gloves are light, flexable and close fitting.

One more thought on the CountyComm gloves, they seem to run a little small - I don't have large hands, more like medium, and they just fit. If you have larger hands I expect they would be too small. Maybe hunt down the $3 equivalent at Lowes to check them out.

I use several pairs of ordinary leather work gloves for handling things that may injure my hands. Nothing terribily special or proprietary about them.

As another poster mentioned - a few pairs of nitrile or latex gloves are in the FAK.

For cold weather, I've got a pair of windstopper fleece gloves with a set of waterproof over-mitts that will keep me warm for a very long time. I can always add a charcoal pak handwarmer inside (facing the back of the hand).

I also have a pair of wool finger-mitts. They are just OK, I don't use them much as they don't have a leather palm wear surface which would make them more durable.

I carry a pair of Mechanix-style gloves in my bag everyday. I've gone through so many pairs that I'm starting to form a pile in the corner. They're one of the first things I reach for when starting any sort of work, becaus having crippled hands can really suck. Even minor wounds or cuts can really cause problems in some situations.

They're good for protection, but not insulation. They're pretty good if you need dexterity but don't need the heavy duty protection of regular leather work gloves. Most of them are made of synthetic leather, which means they will melt, so you have to be careful of what you grab. The original Mechanix gloves fit me the best, but they are also the thinnest and most expensive. There are a lot of knock off brands from Home Depot/Sears/Walmart look and feel the same, but they're thicker (less dexterity), don't wear as well, some of them are downright crappy. A lot of them have rubber grip pads on the tips of the fingers, which I personally don't care for, but could be useful if you needed more grip.

I also keep a cheap pair of leather work gloves in the car for emergencies, and if I need to deal with really hot items, I've break out the full length welding gloves. For painting or dealing with chemicals, I have a box of Nitrile gloves from Costco. Nitrile seems a lot stronger and more resistant to chemicals than regular latex. Latex ones will literally dissovle off your hands if you expose them to anything stronger than paint thinner.

Burning your hands is a great point that I forgot to mention Ducttapeguy, but one of the main reasons I carry thin gloves in my EDC.

In the desert in summer you can burn your hands on just about anything outside, especially metal stair railings, poles, rocks, cars, and lawnmowers.

Great topic. I keep a pair of lightweight Mechanix gloves in my EDC bag. They are thin and light, made for abrasion protection but not insulation. They sit flat in the bottom of the bag. I have a pair of traditional leather gloves in the car.

Fit is important, and different pairs of the same brand/model/size can fit differently. Try on a bunch to find the ones that fit you best.

Yeah, it seems that I'll have to go trolling through hardware stores and outfitters rather than relying on varying sizing standards online. Thanks for the ideas!

A word of caution buy the ones you try. I bought a pair of heavy leather work gloves for clearing brush not long ago.

However during my search for acceptable hand protection, I made the mistake trying on the same pair that everyone else had also tried on.

Liking the fit, I grabbed the same size off the hook without trying them on first.

Big mistake. They were not assembled properly. Resulting in one glove being smaller than the other.

So back to the store to return the defective gloves. A simple trip to the store for a pair of gloves turned into a hassle.

I found the prices on the nitrile covered knit gloves similar to those offered at County Comm. County Comm's are much more subdued looking. They appear to be purplish with a black nitrile coating.

At Academy Sports similar gloves are only $2.49 (made by Stanley Tool). There are 2 sizes offered: the large are white with a blue nitrile coating and the X-large are white with a tan coating. Lowe's had similar offerings for $4.99 though I don't recall the exact colors.

(Standard disclaimer)

Just last week I saw a huge box of nitrile-coated knit gloves at Home Depot (insert disclaimer) for 99 cents a pair. I tried some on and liked them. I said to myself "I'll get some when I come back in a day or two". Yup, you guessed it. They were all gone. Now I have to wait, hopefully not in vain, for them to show up again. One of the workers told they expect more sometime; whenever that is. When they do come in I'm going to jump on them like stink on a gorilla.

Thanks for the updates, guys! I saw the ones at Lowes for $5 but didn't pick them up yet. If Home Depot has some for $1 though, I think we've got a winner. =)

For the more medically inclined, I'm gonna grab some of http://www.narescue.com/liBlack-Talon-Gloves-C156.aspx too

They come pretty highly recommended, and the 8mil thickness at the fingers is impressive.

Does anyone know how heat resistant nitrile is? I'm curious about both melting and the amount of heat conducted through the material.

P.S. the Lowes gloves were blue nitrile on a bluish gray shell.

EDIT: Man, these are cool: http://www.progradegloves.com/video_CPG.php and not too expensive either!

Different gloves for different jobs.

For construction, after hurricane clean up and digging through rubble I plan on using a stack of polyester knit gloves with latex, actually I think it is modified latex because it doesn't seem to be degraded by oil, be sure to check, applied to the palm and fingers. I have used these shifting busted concrete, used lumber and tree limbs and found they wear well and prevent cuts without being too hot. They can be washed several times after they get nasty or slimed. They are cheap, roughly $2 a pair, and seem to last longer than leather if conditions are wet.

For keeping blood or body fluids off nitrile examination gloves are good. Better than latex in my estimation because they are more resistant to oil and don't tear so easily. If the situation combines hard use with body fluids the poly/latex gloves can be worn over the examination gloves.

For chemical resistance or when the job involves work likely to tear a nitrile glove high cuff PVC gloves are what I use. These may replace nitrile examination gloves in austere environments because they can be cleaned and reused many times if cared for. It is pretty old school but it was only in the 40s that surgical gloved were disposable. Before that gloves were cleaned and reused like everything else.

If things go south in a big way for a long time reusable glass syringes, needles that can be resharpened and reusable gloves might become valuable commodities.

Art, do you have a pointer to the polyester knit gloves with latex you describe - are they made by Atlas?

Funny thing, I walked into a Seattle marine supply store that outfits most of the northern fleet (crabbers, halibut boats etc), and almost every glove they sell is Atlas. I think some of their upper models are more than I need for light search and rescue, I think I want something like you have described for after hurricane cleanup. I think my little countycomm gloves will give way pretty quick, and my general purpose leather garden gloves don't let me grip anything too well.

"Art, do you have a pointer to the polyester knit gloves with latex you describe - are they made by Atlas?"

As a matter of fact I have used some made by Atlas. Others, as far as I can tell identical, are stamped on the card stapled to them as Wells Lamont. I suspect that one or more third parties make them and they are relabeled.

To give you some idea of what I'm talking about:
http://www.workgloves.net/StringKnitGloves/dipped-latex/9682L-Blue-Latex-Dip-Palm

Those are going to $10.50 + S&H for a dozen. About the going rate. Like I said they are tough but cheap. At that price you can lay in a supply and scatter them about so there are always a few pairs handy.

They are white with blue, or farther down the page, green palms. But the ones I got locally are a grayish blue knit and a blue palm. I have seen them in yellow knit with blue palms. I suspect that there is little functional differences between the different colors.