"Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That’s relativity," Albert Einstein once said.
As anyone who works with their hands know, getting burned – or scratched, scalded, greased or calloused – makes it much harder to be on your game at work. That’s why choosing the right work glove is so important. Some work gloves will protect you from that hot stove, others won’t. So when you know you don’t want to do the job bare-handed, which work gloves do you choose?
Cox Hardware and Lumber offers a wide variety of work gloves to fit all needs. One of the most popular sellers is the standard white cotton glove, perfect for keeping dirt, grease, or paint off your hands while still letting them breathe. These cotton gloves are so versatile they have even been used as handwarmers during mild Houston winters! Cotton dot gloves, i.e. cotton gloves with PVC dots on the palms, will offer the same protection as white cotton gloves, along with a better grip for the times when you’re lifting boxes, glass, plastics, or other slippery items.
For tougher jobs, leather palm gloves are the top choice. Leather palm gloves come in several varieties, with denim, cotton and high-visibility backings, and leather palm options that include economical side-split and shoulder-split cowhide leather. Heavier cottons on the back of a leather palm glove usually mean heavier and better quality palms, which also mean higher prices. No matter what type of leather palm glove you choose, the cotton backing will keep your hands cooler than a full leather glove.
Full leather gloves, often referred to as driver gloves or mechanic gloves. These gloves are the work glove of choice for people who want some protection against abrasion, but also need to be able to move their hands easily. Leather gloves offer maximum flexibility, improving grip significantly over a bare hand. When it comes to protecting your hands from that hot stove, though, welders’ gloves will do the trick. Made of extremely thick goatskin leather for standard welding, or thin goatskin leather for TIG welding work, they will protect hands from high heat and won’t easily catch fire.
When you’re handling toxic chemicals or liquids, it’s time to look at a whole different class of gloves, plastic. You’ll want a neoprene, PVC, or nitrile material to help protect your hands. And of course, you’ll want the right cuffs to make sure nothing splashes up on your arms, just as you would with any other work glove.