===== MY THOUGHTS ON GLOVES AND MITTENS By Dave Mann Last Updated 01/01/2013 ===== "You get what you pay for!", or so the saying goes. Sometimes it's true. A good pair of boots, for instance, is nearly priceless. But, expensive gloves are a rip-off. In my experience, they are not any more durable nor any warmer than much less expensive options. If you sleep better at night with labels on your hands that announce to the world your willingness to pay big bucks, then there's probably nothing here worth the time to read. Here's my dirtbag approach to keeping my hands warm in the woods while not spending much. The short version is this... Around town, I use insulated deer skin work gloves available at many hardware stores. Kincos and Wells Lamont are 2 brands I trust. When the break in after a year or so, I cut out the liners and use the shells in the woods over rag wool or fleece gloves. When it gets really cold, I use leather chopper style mittens over boiled wool mittens. (I have a link to an easy pattern if you or somebody you know can knit.) And for super cold, windy conditions, I use double layer fleece mittens under OR brand Gore-Tex gauntlet mittens. More details on each of these follows. ----- An Aside on Gloves for Town ----- For around town wear in the winter, I use insulated deer skin work gloves. They are durable and go on and off easily. As with many leather products, when new they have some sort of sealant on them that makes them both somewhat waterproof and resistant to absorbing leather conditioner of any kind. I'll use them for shoveling snow and digging out the cars for a season or so and eventually the original sealant starts to wear off. When this happens, they start to get wet more easily. To waterproof them, I use Aqua-Seal leather conditioner. Aqua-Seal has a lot of silicone in it. So much that I've wrecked boots from using it in a long term, side by side test with SnoSeal. I can't recommend Aqua-Seal for boots or other expensive leather goods, but man o' man, it sure does a good job shedding water. I don't expect my gloves to last for decades so I use Aqua-Seal for the extra waterproofness. After a bit, the insulation in these gloves starts to go funky. They get dirty, compressed and it's time to retire them. When this time comes, I use a pair of heavy shears and I cut out the lining right next to the cuff. With the nasty spent liners removed, I'm left with a nice pair of broken-in leather shell gloves. These get moved to woods use. ----- Gloves for The Woods ----- For nearly all conditions in the woods, I use rag wool gloves under leather work glove shells. I get the shells by cutting the liners of insulated work gloves, as described above. For liner gloves, my favorites are made by Fox River and come with rubber grip spots, which make tasks like opening a water bottle much easier. I can also use fleece liner gloves. For some reason that escapes me, our house collects fleece gloves. The fleece or wool liner gloves seem to last nearly forever under the protection of the heavy leather gloves. The leather gloves on the other hand, last a couple of seasons. Sharp ski edges and clearing snow from ski bindings is hard on them. A common failure of all gloves is stitching that wears out. I'll restitch leather work gloves once. Beyond that, I'll just replace them. I keep my woods gloves as full of conditioner/sealant as possible. I prefer Aqua-Seal for gloves due their high amount of silicone. It also adds a good amount of extra grip. Dry liners are essential for warm hands. So, I carry spare liners in the pack. If a pair gets wet, I put them in a pocket as close to my chest as possible while I'm hiking or skiing to dry them out. This combination will keep my hands warm down into the teens (F) so long as I'm active. Beyond that temperature and I'll switch to mittens. ----- Mittens for the Woods ----- As the temperature heads down past 10 (F), I prefer mittens to gloves. My approach to mittens is exactly the same as for gloves, only thicker. For shells, I use leather chopper mitten shells. If you don't live in the north country, you might not find these at your local hardware store. If you, look on-line for Kincos brand insulated mittens and just cut out the liners. You can usually find them for around $20. For liners, I use heavy, super-thick boiled wool mittens. The classics for many years have been the Dachstein boiled wool mittens. In the 90s and 00s, they became hard to find in the US. You might be able to find them and they usually cost around $40, maybe less. If you knit, or if you know somebody who does, you can make your own for much less. Here's a link to pattern that will get you mittens reasonably close to the Dachsteins: http://home.comcast.net/~pinnah/knit/daves-fulled-mittens.txt This combination easily takes me comfortably to the negative single digits (F) so long as I'm skiing or hiking. They are also very easy to take on and off, which makes them easy to use. ----- Mittens for the Alpine Zone ----- Chopper mitts and boiled wool work great in the woods. But above treeline, I still prefer standard mountaineering style Gore-Tex gauntlet mittens. I find them more cumbersome due to their longer length, but the gauntlet length does a better job and sealing out the wind. They also come with "idiot cords" that go around the wrist so they can be taken off without risk of loosing a mitten to the wind. I also have a pair of double layer fleece mittens made by Minnesota Mittens that are even warmer than boiled wool. They're really too warm for skiing and hiking below treeline but they're nice to have in the back for brutally cold days. This combination will take me down to the negative teens and that is as cold as I care to go. Beyond this temperature, all my gear becomes inadequate. Copyright 2012, Dave Mann