Who uses 'mechanics gloves' and why?

[kool55]

I never could wear gloves unless I was welding or burning. Tried the mechanics type when they came out. Still felt too restrictive. Working on constuction equipment outside in the cold or rain made no difference. I do wish that I should have worn rubber gloves around fuel oil and the parts washer tank all those years. My wife liked my rough hands. She complains now that I retired that they are not rough anymore.

 

[midnightcruise]

I grab for these gloves any time I might be busting a knuckle:

http://www.fastenal.com/web/products/detail.ex?sku=1022408&ucst=t

They have saved me a lot of skin...

 

[BTG]

I wait until HF puts theirs on sale and I buy a few pr at a time. I ALWAYS wear them when I work with fencing (lots of splinters in PT posts & post hole digging). I didn't used to wear any, but I like them a lot when I'm welding/grinding/handling hot metal. I look at the rips & scrapes in the gloves and think - "huh! that would have been my skin..."

49T&C

+1 on the HF gloves. I buy them cheap on sale and keep a pair in the truck, a pair in the house, and a few pairs in the garage. I almost bought these SO's when I saw them at Big Lots , but they didn't fit to well...oh and they were made in China just like the HF ones!

 

[HOTFR8]

I have a pair I use to do many jobs, mainly to protect my hands from cuts etc. with tyres and similar. I can not wear them all the time but many jobs handling I find it better to wear them. I wear rubber gloves often when painting as it is so easy to clean up after. I also find gloves good when pumping Diesel.

 

[slipknot]

Only glove I use is my left welding glove.
To much oil,grease,and mud

tell me about it when welding (stick i wear both of my blue sabers but prefer only 1 when welding flat )

working outside, on vehicles none

 

[EdCherry]

Got a set of mechanixs wear gloves that I use while prepping cars/pit stops, anything to do with heat, brakes, wheels really.

Otherwise bear hands or blue nitrile when working on road cars.

 

[NUTTSGT]

At home I use nitrile gloves when doing something that'll stain the hands, oil changes/staining/painting(especially POR15). I have a few pairs of Mechanics gloves too. Those are mainly worn during fab work/grinding or rotating tires. The work nice in the cool fall while cutting firewood too.
I generally use the Craftsman gloves, which were made by Mechanix Wear when craftsman first started carrying them. Now they are made in China, probably in the same plant but they are on the verge of being freaking gaudy ugly. Just make them black or red, no need for those ugly red chevrons on the glove. I always pull them off.
I used to wear the brown jersey gloves too, but they seem to wear out fast. I started buying dot gloves at the swapmeet. They are usually 6pr for $5, damn close price as the jerseys.


FWIW, I'll add this. I'm glad somebody invented latex/nitrile gloves, I use them every day at work and can't imagine what my hands would smell like if I didn't wear them. Puke, blood, dead people, diesel, who knows what else.

I carry a pair of firefighting gloves in my turn out gear, a spare pair on my mask bag, a pair of rescue gloves on my mask bag, a pair of Carhart work gloves in my mask bag, a spare pair of nitrile gloves in the cargo pocket of work pants in addition to the pair that I might be wearing. So quite literally, I might have 6 pairs of gloves on/with me during a work day.

 

[gahrajmahal]

The thing about mechanx gloves, nitrile or latex is they increase my grip strength as I now have tendonitis in both arms. Plus all the other positives mentioned. I wish they were a bit less expensive though.

 

[Ez Trbo]

I don't wear mech gloves for everything I do, but do like having a pair for some task. I work in the rock biz and around the crushers and machines I usually have on good leather gloves but when in the shop I either have a pair of "blue" gloves on or my mech gloves. Alot of times though i do just go without, all depends on the task at hand. Mech gloves did save me 4 fingers however 2 years ago when i got my hand got between two pads on a dozer, one finger was ripped clean to the bone but the gloves NEVER ripped. I know i'd have had much more injury had i been just working bare hand.

On the fire dept I carry three pairs of gloves with me at all times..1. Fire gloves 2. Ringers Extrication gloves, which are like mech gloves with a bit more tear stop and beefed up areas(kinda like an Impact glove on steroids) and 3. my rope rescue gloves which are just an impact type glove. I use a repeling glove for acatually going down the ropes.

Trbo

 

[Flatland Dave]

I don't wear gloves that often. I have very long fingers and the mechanix gloves I have found do not fit. I do wear blue gloves when painting or fiberglassing. I do however wear safety glasses most all of the time.

 

[lowendrider]

I like the gloves that Lowe's sells. They've held up good for me. The only bad thing is that they used to be 9.99 and now the price has gone up considerably. I guess they figured if everyone else could sell them for 20 bucks, they could too.

 

[Fedwrench]

I generally use three types of gloves. Blue nitrile- wet applications, atf, oil, etc.
Mechanixwear type- for protection when dexterity is required and minor heat protection.
Wells Lamont leather- dry hard work needing max hand protection.
On a side note, I hate gloves. However, prolonged exposure to vehicle fluids especially used, nasty, hot fluids are not healthy for a person. I adapt and wear them. I also hate it when my hands sweat from the nitrile gloves. We got some cool green ones with aloe on the inside, those are sweet and they don't tear as easily as the typical Malaysian versions everyone else sells.

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

I always use gloves when the neighbor comes over and brings his tool box. You never know where those Harbor Freight wrenches he uses have been.......

 

[wrench]

This makes me think of a story someone told me of a ancient mechanic that had been wrenching since the 40s or so. He never wore gloves for anything. He ended up getting cancer in his hands from all the chemicals he'd absorbed into his skin over the years cleaning rusty, greasy parts. His hands were all curled up into balls, useless. Cleaners these days are a lot safer, but I wouldn't go playing in it all day.

Given I don't use my hands blue collar style for work, but I use them none the less. I suspect most of us do in one way or another.

Wish I'd been using gloves the other day when I was handling some torch wicks. They were full of fiberglass and got all over my hands and forearms.

I recently lost a lifelong friend to leukemia,he was a car guy,machinist and tool maker. The Dr.at the cancer center said there was a definate connection between solvent exposure and leukemia. I have been a glove wearer for a long time.I have a box of HF blue nitrile right inside the garage door and seldom enter without putting them on.I buy gloves from a "glove guy"at the swap meets,and throw them out when they get dirty.I have been wrenching for many years,and gloves have saved lots of skin.

 

[LT4]

When its hot out I wear them to keep from burning my hands while working on aircraft. Like many I use to never wear gloves but in recent years I have learned to appriciate their qualities.

 

[JOHNMAN]

I used to only use welding gloves for hot-work.

I never could stand to wear any gloves. I tried the latex gloves and hated them.

After more years of chemicals than I care to admit, my skin on my fingers started to split and crack even when just gently working. I couldn't stand it.

I now use the blue nitrile gloves. They don't last all that long, but they are cheap when buying boxes of 100. HF sells them cheap and Sam's Club sells boxes of 200.

While not "mechanics" gloves (which I have tried but couldn't get used to), these things do protect my hands from all the harsh chemicals that I never used to even think twice about.

After 30 years of gas, oil, hogwash (carb cleaner), brake cleaner, lacquer thinner, numerous other solvents, I have come to the conclusion that an ounce of prevention is worth $1,000's of cure.


I only wish I had believed when I was younger and dumber.

 

[milkovich]

as an FYI, make sure you resist the temptation to weld with the Mechanix type gloves on. They let the slag melt right through the back, but then manage to hold it against your skin to sizzle for a while.... I've heard.

 

[onewaydave]

Somebody needs to talley the pros and cons.

My thoughts:
My early years are memories of busted knuckles in 32'F, you remember that right? Or cut knuckles and bandaids that last about 37 seconds, remember?

My grandad, Kansas farmer, wore brown Jerseys to keep the grease off. He used to scold me (age 6-10) for taking them off to do some fine motor task and putting them back on my now greasy hands to appease his expectations. "Damminit, you want the grease on the outside of the gloves not the inside".

Here on the farm, I was cleaning fence rows once. I reached down to pull up some vines with bare hands. It was old rusted barbed wire, not vines. 8 Stitches and a tetanus shot later...

Gloves around rotating objects. Is there never any end to the dangerous things we do and ignorantly get by? Must we always fear what might happen if.... Just stay in bed and forget doing anything today, you might hurt yourself...

One year, hunting in Wyoming in December, I bought a pair of Elk gloves. Those things were equivalent to cast iron. I had blisters on both hands. Never again.

Had a friend, no electrical skills but responsible for maintaining an apartment, who had to fix an electrical problem in the apartment. The first time he put the screwdriver to the circuit box it melted the tip. So he bought a screwdriver with an insulated handle. Melted that tip also. Did I mention this was in the basement, and the basement was flooded to about 6" of water, that he was standing in to unscrew the screw in the circuit panel that he bought the screwdriver for? He asked me what kind of gloves would help insulate him for the next try?

Pigskin wears out about 2 projects after buying them.

Deer skin are soft and warm.

Calf skin are the toughest. see below.

Fit is important. Nothing more irritating than the web of the glove finger about 1" above the web of the finger on your hand. Or the tip of the glove finger about 1" longer than the tip of your finger.

If I have to wear off the shelf leather gloves, I prefer the draw band type of wrist closure as opposed to the elastic type. The later degrades faster than a marriage made in Las Vegas after a 3 day drunk with a ***** you don't know.

My wife, love that woman, bought me some DTPr golves from DuluthTrading.com once. Darn new fangled fufu. I will never go back to leather again. A little pricier than leather but far out perform them.

OK, fess up. I'm a doctor. Do you want me examining; you, your wife, your mother, your daughter with imbeded dirt or grit, with cuts, subungual hematomas or just plain nasty hands. Hmmm?

So, now with the AAA confession above, let me ask. Why do nurses start IV's with gloves on. Gloves that they have ripped the tip of the fingers of the dominant hand off to give them better tactile sensation to feel those squirrely veins? Gloves that are there to protect them from AIDS, hepatitis, Herpes, bacterial and other ominous infections from SKIN contact. Gloves that are there to protect you, the patient, from....

Dave.

 

[DuluthMN]

I use the mechanic gloves to throw horseshoes!

 

[onewaydave]

I use the mechanic gloves to throw horseshoes!

Now darn, we're talkin serious stuff here. I set up horse shoes for the annual BBQ with absolutely no knowledge of what I'm doing. I also provide the beer so no body has complained yet.

Dave.