Comments on: Reader Question: Latex Gloves Bad For Shop Use?

By: Kelley Collopy Hankins

Kelley Collopy Hankins — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 20:43:25 +0000

I am a scenic painter and signwriter. For the last 10 of my 24 year career, I have worn gloves. The last 3 years have been torture to my hands, recently finding the culprit has been latex gloves. (and mothering 3 kids, the dishwashing gloves) All this time I thought it was something else..

Be careful of the latex!

By: shifan

shifan — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 08:19:13 +0000

Dear Sir / Madam,

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(Export Dept.)
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SIALKOT, PAKISTAN
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FAX: 0092-52-4590459
info@nicassosports.com
http://www.nicassosports.com

By: Randy

Randy — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:33:53 +0000

Harbor Freight nitriles are just fine and a decent price ($12/100). Once you figure in the shipping on the Blue Marlin, HF is only a few cents more per hundred, and you don’t have to buy a case at a time.

Another bad thing about latex is that they will dry rot in the box if not well sealed.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 18:09:34 +0000

By the way, the dimethylmercury case that Evan mentions is explained in detail here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wetterhahn

Long story short, it took her five months to develop symptoms and another five to die after she first reported the symptoms. Granted, dimethylmercury is a lot nastier than anything you’d commonly encounter around the shop, but it goes to show how permeable latex can be.

By: Toolmonger » Blog Archive » You Said It: Make An Informed Glove Selection

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:05:31 +0000

[...] If you haven’t checked out the comment thread on yesterday’s reader question post about latex gloves, you should. There’s some great info there that’s made me re-think how I use gloves in the shop. [...]

By: jamesBrauer66

jamesBrauer66 — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:30:33 +0000

I’m pretty sure they use nitrile in the clean rooms, but mostly because the powder inside the latex sheds particles. I keep a box of latex around for packing bearings and things that are too messy for my goatskin mechanics gloves; but I won’t wear the rubber any longer than I have to. I use nitrile for staining and finish work since the latex seems to let even water based stain get on my skin.

By: jgb

jgb — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:31:58 +0000

I’ve been using the nitrile gloves from HF for a long time. They are great with everything except acetone.

By: Stuey

Stuey — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:05:14 +0000

Everyone should take a look at the site that KMR linked to, http://www.glovenation.com. At the right side of the page there is both a “free sample” link and a “chemical resistance chart”.

The chemical chart shows that latex has fair and poor resistance to brake fluid and cutting oil respectively, while nitrile has excellent resistance. I think that this chart deserves a bookmark.

By: Fzzt

Fzzt — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 07:38:18 +0000

After being hounded about never using gloves while cleaning up my carb parts (in either mild/medium degreaser or just plain gasoline) I was talked into using a pair of latex gloves that ‘melted’ around my hands in about 5 minutes. I wasn’t injured but the subsequent clean up of all the little bits of latex in the parts cleaner was a *****. I have since bought myself a pair of blue nitrile gloves that say they are pierce resistent (carb flashing) and so far seem to work well.

By: KMR

KMR — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 06:20:54 +0000

We use blue nitrile gloves in our shop, we go through about two boxes a week between three guys (that is 100gloves/box, so 200 gloves a week).

http://glovenation.com/BlueMarlin.html

Those are the gloves we use in the shop (Blue Marlin 2099) and we get them from Glove Nation by the case load (a case lasts about 5 weeks for us). Good pricing at $4.69/box, shipping is reasonable too.

For our Safety Kleen tanks, we have much thicker reusable gloves.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 04:38:21 +0000

@Mark - I work in a chemical lab were acetone is used regularly. We usually use nitrile except when working with acetone, we use butyle gloves since acetone will degrade the nitrile gloves we have.

By: Evan N.

Evan N. — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 01:11:36 +0000

I work in an analytical chemistry lab, and we use nitrile gloves almost exclusively, mainly to protect samples from skin proteins as well as to prevent methanol, acetone, etc from absorbing into the skin. BTW, acetone will feel cold with nitrile gloves as well because of the evaporative cooling effect. Even in a glove your hands are still warm enough to evaporate the acetone!

I think it’s all about knowing the proper type of gloves to use. The dimethyl mercury case was an eye opener for the chemistry community for sure. As for us Toolmongers, for example, using the longer and heavier gloves for farm type chemicals and acids is prudent and practical. In the shop I just use Mechanix gloves–in comparison to solvents and acids, wheel bearing grease, motor oil, and engine grime are not that dangerous (you see I mostly work on cars in the shop).

As for cheap gloves — at HF I see latex are $8 a box, and nitrile are about $12.

By: Stuey

Stuey — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 00:20:07 +0000

I’ve seen boxes of 100 generically branded gloves go for $10-$15 at most hardware/auto/*mart stores.

I did a quick amazon search and they offer one brand that goes for $6.53 a box and ships direct so >$25 free shipping applies.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000M5WU8I/

The cheap route would be to order four boxes or one box with some other items and give them a try.

Try to find gloves that have textured fingertips - occasionally it makes a difference.

By: Chuck Cage

Chuck Cage — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 22:51:06 +0000

I generally use latex gloves less to protect me from the grime than to just simplify its removal. Wearing latex gloves keeps me from having to scrub as hard to get the grime out, so I generally wear them.

Most of the nitrile gloves I’ve seen are a lot more expensive than my latex gloves. Does anyone know of a really cheap source for ‘em?

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 22:30:58 +0000

Yeah, what Mark said. I used to work in a chem lab and we *never* used latex gloves for exactly that reason — they’re too permeable. I’d almost rather wear no gloves at all than wear latex. I’m not worried about allergies, but since nitrile gloves are fairly inexpensive and easily available too, you’re better off with them than latex, and they work just as well for the aforementioned fluid line closure as latex gloves do.

By: kythri

kythri — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 22:22:39 +0000

I work in the health care field now, and have been inundated with all kinds of stuff about latex allergies.

It seems that most hospitals and clinics these days are moving to nitrile gloves for the latex allergy issues…

I’ve also found that nitrile gloves are quite a bit stronger than latex…

By: Fred

Fred — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 20:48:29 +0000

If you pull on latex gloves in the shop and walk behind some power tools, they get a bit nervous.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 20:41:15 +0000

You are supposed to use Nitrile gloves with acetone. Latex will actually facilitate absorption of “bad stuff.”

From: http://case.edu/finadmin/does/web/ChemSafety/gloves.htm

Latex gloves have been in use in laboratories for many years as general use gloves. This trend is reversing itself as new information regarding the unsuitability of latex gloves for chemical skin protection becomes more wide spread. Latex gloves offer little protection from chemicals because the pore size of the latex polymer used in gloves is highly variable in size and distribution. This can clearly be seen if you take a latex glove and stretch it. The pattern of lighter areas and darker areas represent the variance in the polymer. The pore size of the latex molecule will also tend to pass solvents very easily. If you have ever washed glassware in the laboratory using acetone and felt a cold sensation on your skin, you have experienced the acetone permiating the latex gloves. The cold feeling is the acetone evaporating off of your skin. Had that been something like DMSO with a poison disolved in it, the poison would have been carried through the glove, onto your hand, and then into your blood stream.

This not to say that latex gloves are completely useless in the laboratory. Quite the contrary. Latex gloves are fine to use in situations involving biologicals, water based reactions, and for protection from messy non-toxic items like carbon black. (work in a fume hood is still a respiratory hazard!)

For those of you that may be wondering why latex gloves have been in the spot light lately, please checkout this page about a recent death involving latex gloves. Dimethyl Mercury

Latex gloves can cause allergy in some individuals

By: Stuey

Stuey — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 19:59:47 +0000

I prefer to use nitrile gloves instead of latex gloves for a few reasons.

In most cases, people will choose latex gloves over nitrile since latex offers increased tactile and temperature sensitivity. While they do make thinner nitrile gloves (such as Kimberly Clark’s “Sterling” gloves), the sensitivity to cost tradeoff isn’t really worth it.

While latex and nitrile gloves offer similar chemical and biological protection, nitrile gloves, being thicker, *might* offer slightly greater protection in more demanding environments such as shops and garages.

I’ve had latex gloves partially disintegrate before, but that was a few days after random exposure to oil contaminants.

Also, most latex contraceptive packages include a disclaimer that warns against using petroleum based products since doing so will cause physical degradation and failure of the latex product.

By: SlowJoeCrow

SlowJoeCrow — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 19:57:46 +0000

Personally I have always used Nitrile gloves in preference to latex because they are resistant to most every common solvents except Methylene Chloride (paint stripper) which gives them “prune skin”. When I first started using them in 1991 I had to ask my boss to order some because we were using thick PVC gloves in the parts washer and the Nitrile gloves were thinner (like dishwashing gloves). I also used them for rebuilding airless sprayers working with lacquer thinner and paint stripper. I started using the thinner surgical style a few years ago when they became more common.
I’ve always questioned the value of latex gloves for automotive type work because petroleum products definitely do break down latex, although I’ve never heard of this being a direct cause of latex allergies.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 19:53:15 +0000

Ask anyone that ever did time burger flipping and you’ll agree - you WILL develop an allergy if you put enough time wearing latex gloves. Why most people don’t develop one is the time factor - the longer you wear it (I’m talking eight to ten hours here) and the frequency (everyday) it will just happen. If you don’t, it won’t happen to you. I got mine from three years of burger flipping, trying to get through college.