Hello all. I am a co-owner of a family owned tree pruning and removal business. During the winter and for certain jobs throughout the year we mostly use leather work gloves to protect our hands. This article is about top rated leather work gloves that can be used for a wide variety of jobs, including arborist related work and power tool operation.
Leather gloves are generally more expensive than other gloves but they are of higher quality and offer enhanced durability. In our arborist business we use leather gloves as they are the most durable. Handling ropes and rough or sharp wood and branches will quickly destroy a polyester or cotton glove. Those glove would be lucky to survive one day of use, while a leather glove can last much longer even with heavy use.
Leather Work Glove – Protect The Hands
A top rated leather work glove in our arborist business is the Wells Lamont Premium Leather Work Gloves. We use these gloves in all the seasons of the year. They will also keep my hands warm in the winter months, although if the temperature is below 30 degrees Fahrenheit and windy, you may need gloves with insulation, it depends on the type of work you are doing.
These gloves are excellent at protecting my hands when working with thorns or briars. They are also needed when using a rope to lower limbs. As the rope slides through my hands the friction creates heat and gloves are necessary to prevent rope burn. The heat and friction would destroy a cotton or polyester glove in a hurry, but these leather gloves hold up well against this abuse.
These leather gloves will keep your hands protected and comfortable and can be used for a broad range of work, including many do it your self projects in the garden, around the home, and various construction projects. They are recommended for power and hand tool use and equipment operation.
The gloves are made of high quality, genuine grain cowhide leather. Cowhide leather is the most popular type of leather work glove because of its thickness which provides amazing puncture and abrasion resistance. The glove has a reinforced split cowhide leather palm patch for extra durability and grip. A simple slip on style makes putting on and removing the gloves very easy.
It also includes a keystone thumb and gunn cut design to help maximize flexibility and overall comfort. A shirred wrist keeps out debris and dirt, while keeping the glove securely in place. The leather gloves are made in sizes from M-XXXL, to fit various hand sizes.
Insulated Leather Work Gloves – Wintertime use
In the winter when it is cold, windy, and snowy, regular leather gloves may not provide adequate warmth and protection. This is when the insulated leather gloves are necessary. I can say that from experience, as I have already had very cold hands because I did not bring insulted gloves along to the job.
The Wells Lamont Water Resistant And Thinsulate work gloves are an excellent choice. They’re available in 3 colors, black, yellow, and saddletan and in sizes from medium thru XX-large.
Made from 100% grain cowhide, these durable winter gloves hold up well during outdoor winter use and provide great abrasion and puncture resistance. They have a reinforced leather palm patch to increase wear resistance, grip, and durability.
The leather is treated to be water resistant and breathable, a great feature when working in snowy or wet conditions. It also will keep the glove soft and flexible.
Insulation is the key part of winter gloves and the 100-gram 3M thinsulate insulation is a great for keeping hands warm without adding unnecessary bulk to the gloves.
Easy to slip on and off, which I find favorable. An elastic knit cuff locks warmth inside and keeps the cold out.
Anti-Vibration Leather Gloves – For Power Tools
Extended operation of power tools can cause pain or tingling in your hands due to the engine or tool vibrations. To combat this an option is to wear anti-vibration gloves designed to minimize the vibration to our hands.
Vgo Anti-Vibration Goat Leather Gloves are a superior choice for your hands. These high dexterity water repellent gloves are available in sizes small thru X-large and in colors brown, green, and orange.
Premium genuine goat leather provides comfort for all day wear. The dual layer, palm reinforcement padding prevents vibration from reaching your hands and also adds durability, while the thermal plastic knuckle and fingertip guard also helps protect your hands during power tool operation.
A bonus with these gloves is the touchscreen compatible design on the tips of the thumb, index finger, and middle finger, which can be handy and efficient when operating your smartphone.
Leather Driving Gloves – Comfort While Driving
Leather driving gloves are an excellent glove for driving, whether you are driving a vehicle, motorcycle, or bicycle. They can be worn during your commute to and from work and for driving the work truck or operating heavy equipment. They provide a better grip on the steering wheel and they will also help keep your hands warm while you hold the steering wheel until it warms up. If your truck is parked outside during the winter you will know how a cold steering wheel feels until the inside of the cab warms up.
Pratt and Hart is an excellent manufacturer of sleek and fashionable leather driving gloves. The Pratt And Hart Deer Skin Leather Driving Gloves are available in sizes small thru XX- large and in colors black, brown, and tan.
These gloves offer an elastic wrist and a velcro wrist band for an adjustable fit around the wrist. Perforated vent holes allow ventilation and prevent against sweating during summer use.
Being made from the finest deerskin in the country keeps the gloves soft and form fitting to your hand and fingers, as comfort is one of the primary goals for riding gloves.
Almost all gloves will get wet at some point. Either from riding in the rain or from normal washing when they become dirty. After drying the deerskin leather will stay soft and flexible, unlike cowhide leather which needs to be worn and put to work to become soft and flexible again, cowhide is generally used for work gloves as it is much stronger but slightly less comfortable.
Which Gloves Will Be Best For You?
There will be an abundance of leather gloves to chose from that will suit your needs. While leather gloves are generally slightly more expansive their superiority as a work glove is unquestioned. Especially if your job will require something that gloves made from other material will not hold up to. Leather gloves are the unquestioned favorite in our arborist business and I would highly recommend them, and for you to give them a try.
Justin
I came across this article looking for some work gloves, and never realized that they made insulated and anti-vibration gloves in leather.
I agree that leather gloves are the best protection for working outside. The problem I have is finding a good quality leather work glove in a small size to fit my hands. Have you come across any quality work gloves for small hands? I don’t do anything too heavy, but I do need them for cleaning up the yard.
They are harder to find in a small size, although I believe that from some manufacturers the medium size would equal a small. I wear an X-Large and I would say my hands are a normal size.
If you like to try on your gloves before you buy them, I would recommend going to a Lawn and Garden or Hardware Store in your area or possibly trying Home Depot or Lowes. If you like to shop online then Amazon would be a great place to look.
Great info on this! I find this highly informative, I used the premium leather work gloves while cutting and stacking firewood and they felt great.
Handling firewood with those gloves is what they are made for! I use those gloves to cut and split firewood and I wear them when I am working on a pine tree or some other tree or shrub that has sharp needles or thorns.
What is your experience with the premium leather gloves when they become wet? How do they feel then and how do they feel after they dry?
When they get wet they become kinda heavy feeling and when they dry they get stiff and hard but they do soften up again as you keep using them.
Okay great! That is a common problem with leather gloves, they are quite stiff after they dry but after wearing then for a short time they are flexible again.
I’ve seen some people wearing these gloves but until reading this article, I didn’t realise the many benefits of wearing these gloves. Since I’ve a keen interest in safety, I understand the need for vibration protection in addition to thermal properties. Do you know if these have a good cut-resistant level?
That is a great question! These are not recommended for protection against cuts from sharp tools, they are more focused on warmth and hand protection against rough surfaces while carrying or moving objects.
For cut resistance you could use a pair of these gloves by Wells Lamont.
Wells Lamont Industrial Y0103XL ANSI A3 Goatskin Leather Kevlar Lined Safety Gloves.
Wells Lamont 333019 Whizard Hand Guard II Heavy Duty Ambidextrous Cut Resistant Safety Gloves.