The Best Work Gloves For Preparedness

wells-lamont-work-gloves

The best work gloves for preparedness will be those designed for general everyday wear, and will be made from quality heavy-duty materials that hold up to the test of time.

Long, long ago I learned the difference between the so called ‘cheap’ work gloves and those that you pay more for. The cheap gloves will tear up quickly while the best work gloves will provide much better protection for a much longer time.

I’ll bet that most all of you have at least one pair of ordinary work gloves. However for those of you who are into preparedness, just imagine how much more hard laborious work you will be doing if and when your preparedness plans go into action. You will need at least several pairs of good heavy duty work gloves. And if a true SHTF collapse comes your way, you may need even more than that – depending on the longevity of the collapse.


 
I must say, when researching good or ‘best’ work gloves, you will discover that there are LOTS of choices out there. Even when looking on Amazon, there are seemingly a zillion of them. I suppose that one wouldn’t really know what’s truly best for them unless they tried them all! While it would be impossible to sample every work glove out there, at least you can go by the old ‘rule of thumb’… ‘you get what you pay for’.

Personally, I have been using Wells Lamont work gloves as my ‘go to’ pair – of which I have many ;) , however even they make a zillion different types of work gloves!

This is the work glove that I have used for the past several years:

Wells Lamont Grain Leather Palm Work Gloves (3300)

-Grain Leather Palm
-Palomino grain leather on the back of the hand
-The seam is at the natural crease of your hand
-Elasticized wrist
-Heavy-duty safety cuff

These gloves are favorably reviewed, and I consider them to be pretty much purposed towards ‘middle-of-the-road’ and a good general pair for all sorts of ordinary tasks – which makes them a great pair for preparedness.

There are MANY other gloves of equal or better quality, but I’ve found these to be pretty much perfect for most things that I do around here – making them ‘the best’ for me…

During the winter I use their insulated version,

Wells Lamont Palm Leather Work Gloves, Insulated Grain Pigskin (5127)

 
I think one of the things to look for when looking for your own best pair of work gloves is to stick with well known ‘name brands’. Then focus on the palms and the material that is used there (obviously leather will hold up pretty well). Be careful though, because the leather, pigskin, etc.. on the palms may be too thin to make them ‘heavy duty’. This is where the majority of wear will occur so this is what you need them to be strong…

 
There’s only so much that you can say about good work gloves, so I’ll stop here. The intent is to get you thinking about your own work gloves. Are they good enough to hold up to the tasks of hard use? Many of us prepare for the worst-case, and/or societal collapse into a time of probable hard physical work. Having the right tools to deal with that is going to be a valuable asset to your preps.

 
Anyone else have recommendations for what (work gloves) have worked well for you?

25 Comments

  1. Interesting article, thanks! You got me to thinking about the different types of gloves, depending on the season, or the task. Seems I just purchased different types of gloves based on what I needed to be doing.

    My general work glove is the Plainsman Leather glove, they are flexible and reasonably tough. Also a GHB pair and two pairs in my “tools stash”. You can wear holes in them digging into anything with rough edges (like crushed boarder stone). Good for three seasons, not winter.

    Insulated gloves: various kinds and multiple pairs because one pair is always wet. I have not found a pair yet that can hold up, seams always are splitting after one season.

    Two pairs of big old insulated mittens (one military surplus with wool liner mitts). Wool finger gloves when it’s really cold out, below zero and wind chill for inside the commercial mittens. (Also for the non-trigger finger hand when black powder hunting, with heat packs).

    Mechanics gloves.

    Camo waterproof/insulated gloves (Camoskinz II) for duck hunting. Always in the rain or sticking your hand in the late fall water. Also a second pair extend up past mid-forearm for decoy/duck retrieval. After a while your hands toughen up sticking them in the cold water, cold wind and wet hands are a different story.

  2. I use insulated and non-insulated elk skin gloves that’s good for chopping wood and needing a tight grip on things, even in the severe cold we have(I use elk and deer scraps for opening up stuck jar lids.) The insulated vinyl gloves just don’t last long and in a month my fingers have worn through them.

    For long term SHTF when the 3 pairs I have wear out, I have plenty of deer and elk hides to make more. Mittens are not a problem since I made them out of Hudson Bay and Witney wool blanket scraps for a living. I wash the scraps in hot water and dry on high heat to shrink them to become even thicker.

    I have a closet full of leather scraps and hides and a pile of wool scraps 3 feet high in the corner of my sewing room. I keep donating them to a church for making wool quilts and mittens, but it seems the pile never goes down.

    1. Wow do I wish I lived near you. I’m just learning to brain-tan. Also dabbling in bark tanning. If we do live through TEOTWAWKI, any and all leather crafting will be extremely important.

  3. Uline and Black Stallion. I get them from a safety manager zero cost. As many as I need…

  4. Thanks for this reminder. I am going to the city tomorrow on a stock up run before winter & I didn’t have them on my list.

  5. When purchasing gloves, I usually just focus on whether or not they will fit my hands. In stores, they rarely come in such a large size, other than those rubberish gloves of course. So I usually either have to order online or make my own. Of those, I prefer to make my own, although they are a bit challenging to make.

  6. I have very good luck with a leather glove sold at Harbor Freight, $5.99

  7. Funny timing, I had just found a stack of unopened leather gloves that I acquired from the forest service when I was on a fire crew. That should keep me going for a few years as far as work gloves are concerned. I keep finding random useful things in the garage while looking for something else.

  8. I’m going to suggest something stupid: Calluses. Toughening your hands will allow those precious pairs of gloves we store up last much longer.

  9. My favorite work gloves are the non insulated Wells Lamont pig skin gloves, but do concede they aren’t as heavy duty as others materials. But the comfort (to me) is worth it – I can work harder for longer periods of time. And TIME is the most expensive commodity of all.

    My daughter accidentally messed up my latest pair – she washed the car and thought she needed gloves for that. Leather is pretty darn stiff and accelerated wear through the finger tips. Tell me again why we love our kids … :^)

  10. The best latex disposable gloves I’ve found are the blue Safegrip XL’s from Microflex. Powder-free, extended cuff, THICK latex mil, textured fingertips, non-sterile single use. Good for bio-protection, painting, light mech work. 50 for $16 at Amazon.

    1. Forgot about disposable gloves, I have a couple of boxes of Nitrile gloves in the medical storage, inexpensive for 100 pair.

  11. Wells Lamont at Costco is my best buy 3 pair for about 18.00. I apply Neats foot oil to them for a few times and get them a bit wet and wear them and they conform and fit great.. Great wear, only problem is when I take off my right hand glove for picking up nails the dog takes it buries it and I find it when roto-tilling the garden.

    I have 7 left hand gloves, no I won’t kick the dog or chase him toooo ooold. I keep 6 pair at home and often give a pair to my neighbors… I buy Wells Lamont insulted in the winter.

    1. I agree with you Bill! Those are great gloves at a great price. I’m also a fan of using Neats foot oil before I start using them. I work doing excavation here in AZ. The oil saves them if I leave them outside, if they get wet, they dry with no problems. And if they get REALLY wet, I let them dry for a day or two, apply a new coat of oil, and with a little bit of moving around they come right back to life.

      The oil will extend the life of the gloves 5 fold! Especially will keep the threads from busting on you. If I get grease from the machines on them, I rub some dry dirt on them to remove the oil, and I’m back in business. I don’t know much about the insulated Wells Lamont, doesn’t get cold enough to need those.

  12. Oh my! Just two pairs of gloves? Not like me. I have fine gardening gloves for deadheading and fine work. A step up in toughness takes me to leather palmed gloves for hoeing. Playtex ones are for spraying red ants(sure wish I could have an aerial spraying -lol.)

    Then there are the cheapies for painting. Soft cotton gloves are for getting the dirt off the potatoes before they go in the root cellar. Winter gloves include mittens, gloves with the pointer finger, and lined leather.

    Some things take years to think of. Wet gloves are something I really didn’t like putting on. After 35 years, I finally thought of putting a clothes line between the joists of my gardening shed. Duh!

  13. Gloves can prevent nasty cuts. In a SHTF scenario, even small cuts can become infected and turn septic, especially if antibiotics are in short supply. This is a good time to proactively update tetanus booster shots!

  14. NoCry cut resistant gloves sound pretty good for when you are cutting shrub branches at the base of a plant and have trouble seeing what you are doing.

  15. One last comment about gloves. I looked up the Wells Lamont leather gloves online. I would pass on them. If — the thumb is a part of the palm, I will not buy them. The thumb must be sewn in after the fact. A glove with the thumb that is whole – and a part of the palm simply does not fit my paws well. I used Wells Lamont in the mining industry. Not comfy.

    Again – Uline, and Black Stallion have add on thumbs sewn into the palm. Much more comfortable. Its a matter of preference. The gloves fit me better. Coated gloves aren’t comfortable to me either. I will use examination gloves for easy work, and leather for tough work. Sometimes I will put the exam gloves on, then the leather gloves for sloppy hard work. It keeps my hands drier and I can work longer. Example: Pond work.

  16. I have used Wells Lamont for decades. When I still worked on large aircraft they would last about 6 months around the different oils and hydraulic Oil (skydrol will rot the stitching in a few days. It’s some nasty crap). Now that I’m not working aviation anymore I usually spray them with some WD-40. I especially like the grip palm gloves. I have insulated gloves for winter. I usually have 3 or 4 new pairs to back up my everyday use gloves.

  17. Brown jersey gloves. Cheap, semi tough, and disposable. We can get a dozen for around $5 bucks. I have a lot of the glove types mentioned above. But if you have something nasty to do..ie..vehicle repair or dressing out a deer, they are a good choice to have around since they are so cheap.

  18. My maternal grandfather worked all his life in the oilfields, the last of his life and the first of mine, as a driller. He always used the dot grip gloves, and bought them in great stacks of at least two dozen pair. Myself, I use Wells-Lamont white mule leather palm gloves, and like them just fine.

    I also have around 20 boxes of vinyl exam gloves, as well as a few pair of Army black ‘refrigerators’. I have several pair of the military knit wool glove liners, but my go-to for extreme cold (think wind-chill of -80 F) is those knit glove liners inside the issue horsehide trigger-finger mittens. – Papa S.

  19. Never pick up hot metal with the same gloves you weld with or they will fall apart. I keep a second pair for that. Second I always put my name on the back of them with big letters with a felt tip marker. They wont disappear when you do that LOL. I use Wells Lamont leather and cloth work gloves but I have to admit I prefer the cloth over leather. They don’t last as long as leather but I get a better grip, better dexterity and comfort with them.

  20. I use the “driver’s gloves” from Harbor Frieght but the seam on the last two pairs have ripped out, but I did notice that the thread just unraveled it did not tear through the leather so I’m going to try to sew them back up.

    As Lake Oz said leather skills will be very valuable.

    Another “work” glove is something that is chemical resistance. Since there is such a wide array of chemicals, you may need a few different types of chemical resistant gloves. Don’t assume that your gloves are right for the chemical you are working with. The CDC has a glove selection book (at least they use to).

    I also keep several pairs of welder’s glove. Can also be used when cooking with Dutch ovens.

  21. as a Texas prepper…cold is not usually a problem…also I am allergic to leather or to the chemicals used to tan it…so non leather is what I have to use…I have found that Mechanics makes a utility glove that is not leather which is fairly durable…and fits well enough to pick up a penny with your gloved hand…get them where they fit pretty tight..at 67 years old I have discovered that gloves make me stronger..when your hand does not hurt doing strenuous chores or using wrenches etc….you can use more force without pain…I keep several pairs in reserve…just in case…used to never use gloves until I got old and also until I discovered these..thanks…read the blog frequently but seldom comment

  22. Brain tanning was mentioned above. This may be a bit off topic but, deer ( and moose) can carry CWD, a prion disease. CWD is essentially mad cow disease (or BSE) in deer. Ther is some anecdotal evidense that CWD has been transmitted to hunters. It is probably a bad idea to handle brain matter and/or nerve tissue of possibly infected animals.

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