Gloves

Buzzbait

Buzzbait

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Joined
Feb 25, 2001
Messages
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Hi all. Now that my daughter is old enough (9 years) to go adventuring, and actually keep up with me, it was time yesterday to start going through my outdoor gear for the first time in many years. My gloves had long been confiscated for home yard work, so I had to hit a local hardware store for a new pair.

The process of picking out a new set of gloves, and prepping them for use, is something I've done for many years. I've never seen much posted here on gloves, so I thought I'd share my process.

  1. First off, I normally choose deerskin gloves. There are tougher gloves out there, but I love how deer skin only stretches in one direction, and doesn't readily harden after exposure to moisture. Moisture is the chief killer of gloves for me.
  2. I always choose a pair of gloves with fingers that are the proper finger length, even if the palms and/or wrists are a little too snug.
  3. Next I soak the gloves in non-chlorinated water for a good half hour.
  4. Then I wear the gloves, flexing my hands, making fists, and stretching my fingers, until the gloves are half dry. This takes about an hour or so.
  5. Afterward, I twist up some newspaper, and "screw" the newspaper into the fingers of the gloves to keep them stretched out. More newspaper goes into the palms. Appropriately sized water bottles are shoved into the wrists and palms, and the gloves are set out in the sun for an hour, until the gloves are dry.
  6. Now the gloves go back on my hands, and each glove is given a liberal coating of Sno-Seal, and a hair drier is used to melt the Sno-Seal into the gloves. You have to take it easy with the hair drier, as you can feel the leather starting to shrink the minute the hot air hits the gloves. Ultimately, you want a lot of Sno-Seal to soak into the leather. You'll know when enough is soaked in when the pores of the leather get nice and dark
  7. Finally, the insides of the gloves are given a thorough dusting of baby powder. The powder makes it easier for me to slide my hands in and out of the gloves, and not fight the waxy coating of Sno-Seal

Viola! Now I have a very water resistant pair of medium duty work gloves, that feel like they were sewn to fit my hands. I know the fit is perfect when my gloved hands can properly operate the buttons on a television remote control, yet still slip on and off easily.

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To be honest, I didn't even look. I'm not too picky about brand. Probably Wells Lamont.
 
Same technique I used on new baseball gloves when younger substituting glove oil for the sno-seal. Must be a bummer when you lose a glove after all that work.
 
Thanks for sharing and nice photos. I do something similar with goatskin gloves which have been my go to choice in work gloves for many years. I wear them wet until dry and then apply Obenauf's LP. I haven't tried the powder and haven't used deerskin gloves for other than casual use in a long time as my last pair didn't hold up too well under stress. There are pros and cons of all materials. Goatskin is much more abrasion resistant than deerskin but tends to dry harder than deerskin which always seems to stay soft. You have inspired me to give deerskin another try as I do prefer the tactile feel they provide over most thicker cowhide, bison or elk gloves. I think what I would really like is some gloves with deerskin backs and goatskin on the palm side.
 
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