TM reader Abe posted the following comment on our recent Tip: Close Off Fluid Lines With Latex Gloves post: “Please do not wear latex gloves in the shop. Petroleum products cause the latex to break down and may cause you to develop a latex allergy.  This is such a serious problem that hospitals will not let workers bring their own hand lotion from home because some lotions contain pertoleum products.   A latex allergy is something you do not want to go through life with.”

I’m going to do some research myself when I get a chance, because I’ve used latex gloves in the shop for years with no adverse effects.  But have any of you heard or seen anything relating to this? 

Let us know in comments.

After years of getting all my gloves dirty — then tearing my hands up moving furniture or other “clean” items bare-handed — I finally learned to buy a separate set to keep as “clean” gloves.

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These gloves provide big-time freedom of movement via cut outs and relief areas while still protecting your fingers and hands with good quality leather.  But bionic?  They don’t feature any of the super-cool gizmo tech I think of when I hear “bionic.”  Bummer.

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Are you more Terrell Owens than Jerry Rice when it comes to hanging on to crap around the jobsite?  These gloves’ tacky palms might help, though you’ll have to put up with “tacky palms” jokes from your co-workers.

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Most “women’s” tools leave much to be desired – passing up quality and good design for pretty colors and gimmicks.  Not Mechanix, though.  Their woman’s home and garden gloves look as tough as their shop gloves, they’re not even pink, and there’s not a flower to be found anywhere on ‘em.  They are, however, sized just right for smaller hands and feature sport-stitched webbing in the rear to provide a snug fit for slender wrists.

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Mike R. writes: “Gorgonz makes a cool glove that has a valve in the back that you breathe into to help warm your hands.  They seem well built and have a comfortable fit that allows for a lot more dexterity than a typical cold weather gloves.  The valve works great, and breathing warm air into the gloves definitely helps keep your hands warm.  There’s an easy-to-grab flap covering the valve, which keeps crap out of it.”

“Home Depot carries a couple sytles (the 650 and 475), though the 650 and 850 are the only ones with the valve.  The 650 has less insulation but allows for more control than the 850.  The 650s are cheaper at Home Depot — $29 around here – than on the Gorgonz website.”

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We’ve written about gloves with impact protection and even gloves with lights on the fingers, but they all seem kinda gimmicky to us.  Realizing that we — like you, probably — do more than just work on the car, what’s your favorite shop glove 

Maybe I should be a little more specific: by “shop glove,” I mean gloves other than the classic “work glove” — which is great, but doesn’t offer anywhere near enough dexterity for most smaller work. 

Right now, we seem to favor the one pictured above — Mechanix’ “original.”  We’ve worn out three pairs over the last few months, but I’m glad to say that it’s the gloves that are worn out and not our hands.  The Mechanix gloves seem to offer a nice balance between durability and dexterity, though they are a little pricey.

But we haven’t tried ‘em all.  I suppose what we should really do is put together a test.  Let us know your favorites in comments, and we’ll schedule a test of as many of ‘em as we can find.

A while back I posted about how great it is to have a few sets of “clean” work gloves around — gloves that you keep clean so you can use them for moving furniture and so on.  At the time, I mentioned that I found some for $1 each.

Well, here’s your opportunity.  Harbor Freight’s sellin the ones pictured above 3-for-$3 today.  That’s half price as they’re normally $6.

While you’re at it, pick up two sets.  You know you’re eventually going to end up getting some of ‘em dirty.

Work Gloves, 3-Pair [Harbor Freight]

We’ve got a drawer completely full of work gloves at the Toolmonger shop.  We carry some in vehicles, and we use them endlessly in the shop to carry steel around, etc.  The problem comes when you want to move something that you’d like to keep clean — like furniture or a big TV.  Sure, you could just forego the gloves, but a good pair of work gloves can really lower the pain and suffering of moving.

Our solution: Shop the local dollar stores for “work gloves.”  They’re poorly made and would disintigrate if you used them much in the shop, but they’re great if you just intend to keep them separate (as “clean gloves”) and only use them when you’re moving something nice.  I’m way too cheap to buy a $7 set of gloves for this purpose, but at $1 each, I’ll take two.

Brad writes: “These gloves are awesome.  They’re made to use when its cold but you still have to manipulate small items such as aircraft controls.  The Air Force issues them to pilots, and the Army infantry issues these to soldiers — they work much better than the standard issue leather.  These gloves were the ‘thing’ before mechanic’s gloves came out.  There are many varieties.  This link is but one of them.”

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You can be cold all you want — or you can be smart and bundle up — but once your hands get cold and you can’t manipulate small items, you’re just wasting your time.  Ringers Gloves makes a couple of different insulated mechanics gloves to keep your fingers warm and on the job.

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