Recommendation for work gloves?

[GreenSheep]

My husband complains that his work gloves wear out way too fast. Mostly in the fingertips, I think. He's tried all sorts of different brands from Home Depot, I think maybe a couple from Amazon, etc. Leather, fabric, whatever. He uses them for everything from moving gravel to logging to constructing small outbuildings and raised garden beds. (No, this is not his job. He does this for fun!) I suppose you have to find a balance between toughness and dexterity, but I think he's at the point where he'd be willing to give up a little dexterity for something that will last longer. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. American-made would be a big plus.

[Wrenchturner]

I use good ol leather gloves for anything heavy duty or metalworking (hot metal!).  I like hyflex nitrile coated gloves for lighter duty where extra traction and some cut resistance is useful.  Neither are US made.  If he's burning through leather gloves and mechanix gloves he's probably just hard on equipment!

[GreenSheep]

Thanks! He claims that when he did construction work in the summers during/just after high school, his gloves lasted longer. But that was 20ish years ago, so either his memory is faulty or maybe they just don't make things like they used to!

[Lucky Penny Acres]

I have had decent luck with Ironclad Heavy Utility Work Gloves.  I have a small farm and use them regularly for farm chores, etc. and I feel like a pair lasts a few years - I usually do some repairs / re-stitching on the fingers during that time to stretch out the time before getting a new pair.

I also use the Ironclad Tundra gloves for working outside in the winter including snow shoveling and have had similar luck with those lasting a couple years per pair.

[lthenderson]

I prefer leather gloves but have not been able to find them online. They either don't fit my hands correctly or are made from super thin leather which is hard to determine looking at pictures. My preferred method for finding and buying the perfect leather glove is to either go to a DIY home center or farm center type business and just start trying on leather ones until I find one that fits, is pliable but not made of super thin leather. I think the last ones I bought were made by Carhart and they are probably ten years old. I like them because they have mesh panels on the back of the hand which makes them cooler to wear in the summer time.

[Syonyk]

Duct tape - the heavy, rubberized kind.  And then different gloves for different purposes.

I'm out on a few acres of rock in the country, and it's hard on gloves.  I've looked for the same thing - gloves that will give me fine control and last against hard rock, and the reality is that they don't exist.  Anything heavy enough to withstand rock is like using a robotic hand actuator, anything halfway thin just doesn't hold up.

I was absolutely tearing through gloves moving rock (basalt - so hard, rough... just abrasive stuff) until I figured out that I could protect the fingers of an old pair of gloves with heavy duct tape.  A couple wraps (don't wrap it tight, you won't get your fingers in when sweaty!) on a worn out set of gloves gave me close to a year's worth of rock moving with them.  They've eventually torn up in the palms, but for the sort of low dex, bulk movement stuff, they're great.  I don't use them for fine work, just heaving and lobbing rocks.  The duct tape is pretty well ripped apart by now, but you can always add more.

Otherwise, if you find a type that works, find some bulk packs online and order them.

You'll have far better luck with finding good gloves at a farm/country sort of store (D&B, Tractor Supply, etc) than you will at Home Depot or Lowes, though.

[Wrenchturner]

Duct tape - the heavy, rubberized kind.  And then different gloves for different purposes.

I'm out on a few acres of rock in the country, and it's hard on gloves.  I've looked for the same thing - gloves that will give me fine control and last against hard rock, and the reality is that they don't exist.  Anything heavy enough to withstand rock is like using a robotic hand actuator, anything halfway thin just doesn't hold up.

I was absolutely tearing through gloves moving rock (basalt - so hard, rough... just abrasive stuff) until I figured out that I could protect the fingers of an old pair of gloves with heavy duct tape.  A couple wraps (don't wrap it tight, you won't get your fingers in when sweaty!) on a worn out set of gloves gave me close to a year's worth of rock moving with them.  They've eventually torn up in the palms, but for the sort of low dex, bulk movement stuff, they're great.  I don't use them for fine work, just heaving and lobbing rocks.  The duct tape is pretty well ripped apart by now, but you can always add more.

Otherwise, if you find a type that works, find some bulk packs online and order them.

You'll have far better luck with finding good gloves at a farm/country sort of store (D&B, Tractor Supply, etc) than you will at Home Depot or Lowes, though.

Good advice!  Especially that last bit.  Hardware stores tend to stock crappy gloves at high prices.  Home gamer stuff.
 Industrial supply is a better bet.

[GreenSheep]

Thanks for the helpful ideas, especially the duct tape. We do have a farm supply store here, but the gloves don't seem to be any better there. So... maybe it's duct tape FTW!! We'll give it a try!

[Car Jack]

I buy multi packs of leather work gloves at Harbor Freight.  They are very cheap.  In my garage, I have a chest of drawers under my work bench.  Left top drawer is left gloves, right top is right gloves.  I've gone through packs or these things as I do everything from rock wall building to chainsaw work with them.  I've tried all the mechanix kind of gloves and they're all crap and don't wear any less than the cheapo stuff.  When I wear a hole in a finger, I throw it out.  Having those drawers full of gloves helps.  I don't have to search to get a match.  Every couple years on Fathers day or my birthday, I'll ask my wife to get another pack of these.  Easy gift idea.

[BudgetSlasher]

And then different gloves for different purposes.

You'll have far better luck with finding good gloves at a farm/country sort of store (D&B, Tractor Supply, etc) than you will at Home Depot or Lowes, though.

Both of these.

I've got 4 or 5 pairs of gloves that all have different purposes.

And gloves from the big boxes are pretty poor f you are going to be using them alos

[Fishindude]

I buy the expensive, tight fitting deerskin gloves.   They wear out too, but better them than my hands.
All gloves wear out, find a type you like and buy a bunch of them, replace when worn out.

[WranglerBowman]

I buy the cheap rubber dipped gloves, after a lot of experimentation with all kinds of gloves.  They are the best bang for the buck.  They seem to last about half as long as most of the leather gloves, but I buy bulk packs and they are so much cheaper, I can typically get 10 pairs of rubber dipped for the price of 1 pair of leather gloves.  I use these gloves mostly for tree work and farm labor and love that I can actually grip things well and have some fine touch feel as compared to leather gloves.  As soon as you sweat in leather gloves they wear 10x quicker.