I have a pair of gloves that I really like. I bought them over a year ago. Wear them all the time. I’ve got other gloves I only wear on particular occasions but these are the gloves I’ll stuff in my cargo pocket just in case I want a pair of gloves. The right index finger is about to push through and I know I’m just going to cut the tip of that finger off the glove and keep wearing them. Got it?
So I go to Amazon to buy another pair of gloves just like this one. And I look at the price and realize I must have bought the original pair in a fit of drunken madness…
…and it’s not like I can’t afford to replace these very useful gloves but they’re stupid expensive compared to the ones on a rack at Ace Hardware that I’ll buy for half as much and hate because they don’t fit right and I won’t wear them. And now the indecision is holding up an amazon order for such frivolities as a package of long underwear and a new toilet brush. And probably will till the end of the week when I sigh and decide not to buy the gloves. This is the inside of my brain.
Poor, poor brain! Give it a hug…and buy the gloves. Gloves are like women: when you finally find the perfect one, you don’t let her go.
You can make up for it by not buying something else that’s much less needed.
Gloves are a very personal thing. I have relatively small hands but normal length fingers. Men’s “small” have fingers that are way too short, and for years I suffered with ill-fitting gloves. Then I was in a TSC store, furtively trying on gloves, when I noticed a completely separate rack of gloves . . . women’s gloves. I discovered that women’s “large” gloves are just what I need, narrow through the hand proper and fingers that accept my own phalanges. And that rack offers a wonderful glove of deerskin imported from somewhere in the far east, that are the best all-around glove yet. They are even washable. For all-purpose around the place wear they can’t be beat and last way longer than you’d think.
Have you priced decent glove recently?
THey ain’t cheap, even the cheap ones.
Spend the money for a decent pair. I be the generic equivalent at Ace is about $25
Wirth riggers gloves do the job and aren’t all that expensive…not a patch on the old style rigger’s gloves. Mind you, there are jobs where no gloves suit. Stacking lumber, for instance. The most expensive kevlar gloves die fast, and the good leather ones maybe an hour later. In that work, you train your hands, which become like leather. The first big splinter that goes through your fancy glove is one you would have avoided with your hands ungloved. It will go to the bone and beyond….avoidance is better. Save your gloves for the times where really nothing else will do….your leather hands underneath may take up the slack. When something gets through, take care of it. Infection is death!
I cheeped out on work gloves for years, and then I bought a pair of Mechanix Wear work gloves, so I understand your conundrum because they do cost a bit more. Yes, these gloves aren’t cheap. And, you can get gloves good enough to use which will last a bit, but do you want to spend money on a quality product or do you want to put up with substandard gloves that may or may not fit well and will wear out within a few months?
FYI Joel, you don’t have to go the high-tech specialty tactical glove route if you just want work gloves, Mechanix Wear does have cheaper options.
https://www.amazon.com/Mechanix-Wear-FastFit-Gloves-Small/dp/B0001VNYDS/146-8635309-9377053
Gloves, work pants, barn jackets, and good work boots or a boot 😉. Some of the buy once cry once items on my list. Also hard to beat a good shovel, now that I think about it pretty much any of the gotta have it basic tools/clothes fall in that list.
Don’t skimp on gloves. Between Air Force, flightline mechanic, shipyard rigging, off roading and tree service, I learned to buy the right gloves. They’re never the cheapest. Sometimes they are not inexpensive.
Entering the Amazon product number on CamelCamelCamel I see that they’ve been a LOT cheaper at various times back to 2019. And is it possible that the first ones were part of the great 2019 work-glove gifting?
And that company has so many varieties, could there be one that has all the nice things about your old pair but that comes at a less expensive cost? Such as this one, if it is suitable?:
https://www.mechanix.com/us-en/tactical-and-military-gloves/FFTAB-72-010.html
Buy the gloves.
I’ve found out repeatedly after cheeping out and having to buy another set of XX or tool that didn’t work, that I’d be ahead if I’d only forced myself to pay an extra 25% for the good sh!t.
…Instead of getting the good one when the cheap(er) one didn’t work.
I had to lay a concrete paver patio for the house, and the first gloves I used were some Horror Freight cheapos. Good for a few hours at best. The next day, I went back to my all-leather Wells Lamont gloves. Didn’t last longer than a few days. (no surprise, they die quickly when I’m splitting firewood). I ordered some not-kevlar gloves from Amazon (different fiber, but no-cut gloves usable by butchers and such). They did fine for the pavers, and when I had to break up a lot of branches from our many pine trees. (Had a few cut down–100 foot Ponderosas are beyond me. Also had many branches clobbered by heavy snow last winter–4′ of wet snow in a week can raise a lot of hell.)
Costco used to sell the three-packs of Wells Lemont all-leather work gloves. Normal use, they’ll last over a year. (I have far more firewood than I can burn. Impractical to sell it, so I have a lifetime supply under tarps.) Now Costco has a cloth/leather glove from Wells. They work, but I don’t like them. Still have a few pairs of the old gloves.
Stihl sells some deerskin gloves. I keep a pair in the truck for lumber pickup and trash dropoff. I doubt they’d last for long, but they’re good enough and easy to stash in the console.
I have used Kunz gloves for years. They are not cheap but last a long time for me.
About the only way to get them is to order them or go to a local safety supply company.
The cavalry is a coming. Just so happens there are very similar gloves for auction locally and no one bids much for em. Let me keep an eye out for you and maybe a Christmas envelope will show up early.
The cavalry is a coming. Just so happens there are very similar gloves for auction locally and no one bids much for em. Let me keep an eye out for you and maybe a Christmas envelope will show up early. Might be XL if I can’t find L.
Buy ‘em’
They are unknown quantity, you actually like them and you don’t know how many more trips around the sun you’ll get. To top it all off, unless you happen to be an Egyptian pharaoh, not like you can take anything with you after you take that last trip around said sun.
Clicked too soon, that should have said “a known quantity”
They are $23 right now
https://www.amazon.com/Mechanix-Wear-Original-Tactical-X-Large/dp/B0001VNZUK
Other colors are cheaper if your willing to be a little flexible.
For work that doesn’t require finesse I often use welders gauntlets.
Made for professionals, thick leather, good seams.
I live in the desert and venomous creepy crawlies in old lumber and vegetation is a thing, having more protection for my arms is a real peace of mind thing.
Anonymous at 11:30 am:
Those are also smart tools for small animal vets!