adding warmth to your gloves

S

siguy

Joined
Aug 26, 2006
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i was out shoveling with a landscaping team tonight, because of the big dump they weren't really prepared, so i helped them out.

when i was there i learned a really cool trick to add alot of insulation value to your gloves. especially good since i don't have any good gloves. the only gloves i have are old gnarly beat up leather driving gloves. mostly because its next to impossible to find gloves that fit me (barberfobic probably has a similar problem :rolleyes: )

wear rubber gloves as a liner for your regular gloves

this not only keeps your hands dry when your gloves are wet, but it also traps alot more heat (i think due to the vapor barrier effect?). tonight it kept my hands comfortable for 4 hours in conditions that would have left me with numb fingers in ~15 minutes (with my gloves, without the rubber gloves underneath).

now i'm going to bed, i'm tired :yawn:
 
This can work if your hands are dry but don't let them perspire. Rubber won't breath and clammy hands are a killer in the cold. Rubber won't pull the moisture away from the body but trap it and make you feel colder. Natural or synthetic fibers will breathe to some degree. Even gloves with gore-tex or H2NO or other synthetic membrains will breathe better. Usually these gloves have a soft liner to them designed to wick. You need to have something against your skin to keep them from sweating and "pooling".

Me personally, I'd wear heavy rubber gloves over my outter gloves but never against my skin. I'd always want something with wicking ability to pull that sweat away from my skin.
 
I agree. Rubber gloves on the inside = clammy, wet hands once they heat up. They do hold heat exceptionally well, but if you're working and your hands start sweating, well forget about it for me. I know some people who work as meat-cutters and I've seen them wear their gloves like this, with a light cotton pair under their rubber ones - but it may just be to avoid contact with the food/cross-contamination or whatever.

I think some large rubber gloves would work great over a pair of thinner wool or sythetic winter gloves. I'll have to give it a try next time I'm out in the cold..
 
This year I purchased a set of Patagonia insulating liners to go inside my gloves. They are made from a thin, insulating, water-wicking mesh, and they really do the trick. Mind you, they are definitely not waterproof.

I haven't tried the rubber glove thing yet, but I'll keep it in mind.

All the best,

- Mike
 
siguy said:
i was out shoveling with a landscaping team tonight, because of the big dump they weren't really prepared, so i helped them out.

when i was there i learned a really cool trick to add alot of insulation value to your gloves. especially good since i don't have any good gloves. the only gloves i have are old gnarly beat up leather driving gloves. mostly because its next to impossible to find gloves that fit me (barberfobic probably has a similar problem :rolleyes: )

wear rubber gloves as a liner for your regular gloves

this not only keeps your hands dry when your gloves are wet, but it also traps alot more heat (i think due to the vapor barrier effect?). tonight it kept my hands comfortable for 4 hours in conditions that would have left me with numb fingers in ~15 minutes (with my gloves, without the rubber gloves underneath).

now i'm going to bed, i'm tired :yawn:
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Check on the internet. You can get military surplus wool glove liners for cheap. Usually in a pack of 2 or 3 pairs for $5.
 
i kept expecting my hands to get wet and clammy, but it never happened. maybe i wasn't generating enough heat, but i was surprised at how well it worked.
 
Years ago when I worked on the crab boats in AK, we used wool liners, then rubber and topped off with work gloves. It was cumbersome at first, but we got used to it.
 
No matter what you think about rubber gloves trapping sweat, they worked for siguy and I know they work for me. Everyone's physiology is different. Try them. If they don't work for you, take them off. But don't tell everyone else to avoid what does work for some of us.

What I normally wear to boost my insulated dress leather gloves is a cheap silk glove liner with knit cuffs. Sportsmans Guide sells them for a few bucks a pair. I find if I go into a store, I can leave the silk liners on, they don't interfere with dexterity.

Edit: 34,000 freaking posts. I gotta lay off this internet for awhile ...
 
I'll wear latex or nitrile gloves under my cotton gloves a lot at work in the winter when working outside, but we've got an unlimited supply. They help a lot, but your hands can get pretty clammy. It may be worth keeping a couple of pairs in your kit though, as insulation under gloves, for refilling water bottles in the cold, or dealing with 1st Aid for others or to protect a cut or abrasion on your hands.
 
Latex gloves works great for cleaning deer. You don't have to wash all that blood off your hands!
 
Or wear mittens, with the light wool gloves for liners. Kept my hands warm through many a NWT winter! :thumbup:
 
Mentor said:
This year I purchased a set of Patagonia insulating liners to go inside my gloves. They are made from a thin, insulating, water-wicking mesh, and they really do the trick. Mind you, they are definitely not waterproof.

I haven't tried the rubber glove thing yet, but I'll keep it in mind.

All the best,

- Mike
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Sounds good to me.

Siguy I have trouble finding decent gloves that fit, 2X can be tight with a liner. I have taken leather gloves and wet them and filled them with sand after turning them inside out and letting them dry and then remove the sand and work the leather with snow seal , this allows for a wool liner which works for me. Chopping mittens might be worth looking in to as well.
 
In winter always carry a thick spare pair of wool socks in your pocket or kit as not only can they be used if you get wet feet but they can also be pulled on over your gloves to add extra warmth !!!
 
pitdog said:
In winter always carry a thick spare pair of wool socks in your pocket or kit as not only can they be used if you get wet feet but they can also be pulled on over your gloves to add extra warmth !!!
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Very good tip! :thumbup:

Doc
 
k_estela said:
This can work if your hands are dry but don't let them perspire. Rubber won't breath and clammy hands are a killer in the cold. Rubber won't pull the moisture away from the body but trap it and make you feel colder. Natural or synthetic fibers will breathe to some degree. Even gloves with gore-tex or H2NO or other synthetic membrains will breathe better. Usually these gloves have a soft liner to them designed to wick. You need to have something against your skin to keep them from sweating and "pooling".

Me personally, I'd wear heavy rubber gloves over my outter gloves but never against my skin. I'd always want something with wicking ability to pull that sweat away from my skin.
Click to expand...

I wear my latex gloves over my gloves when working outside in the winter on the ambulance. Works well for me. I did try wearing them under, it worked, but the latex was full of sweat in a short time.
 
Vapor barrier science is well established. The point of wearing airtight anything underneath your insulative layer is so the moisture wont enter the insulation thus allowing it to do its job dry. Once its wet its insulative properties decrease and then it freezes eventually.

Is it clammy? Yes. You can increase comfort with a thin wicking liner under the rubber next to the skin.

I see students of mine all the time putting garbage bags over their sleeping bags or coats and I correct them.
Survival bags that are airtight go inside your insulation layers or else you will soak that layer and freeze. Seen it happen too many times.

It is 30 below zero where I am and you can be sure I am wearing nitrile gloves inside of my heavy gloves.

Skam
 
I wear wool liners and the extra long sleeve type heavy duty rubber gloves for the snow removal duties they last longer and you don't get snow in you wrist and your coat sleeve's don't get wet.
 
This is a cool idea I will have to try. I really like the way W&SS helps the community collaborate on tips in general. :thumbup:

I typically wear polypropylene liners underneath North Face fleece gloves for general use, or underneath Under Armour lineman gloves during football season (I'm a quick-side tackle). This practice usually works great for me.
 
I use polypro liners too, soemtims on their own, or under my surplus CDN Forces wool gloves or in my leather mitts. I have also done the dishglove over the wool glove trick when working on the truck in winter.
 
This demands experimentation. I'm going to grab some different gloves and report back next week. If my hands develop some version of trench foot, I'm blaming siguy. ;)

All the best,

- Mike
 
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