What gloves do you wear? Are they American made?

[BigGthetree]

Got lucky the other day. My 660 chain broke and hit the chainbreak bar and just nicked my left hand glove. It tore the glove apart (cheap Harbor Freight 6 pack). Been looking around for something with Kevlar on the back of the left hand and am having a devil of a time. Lumbermans looked good but they told me they were made in China for them "no American company makes that quality level of glove." Wow, is it that bad that the Chi-Coms have to make our gloves? Help me out here. What do you all wear?

 

[CNBTreeTrimming]

I use the youngstown gloves. Been very pleased with dexterity, durability, and protection. Available through wesspur.

 

[madhatte]

For cutting: plain old leather USFS fireline gloves, turned rough-out for comfort and grip.

For wet but not cold: those thin Atlas ones with the nitrile palms.

For sorta-cold and wet: Atlas Therma-Fit

Whenever it's really cold I throw wool liners under whatever else I'm wearing.

I doubt that Kevlar would be a good material for gloves -- the chain shouldn't be moving fast enough, even thrown, for matted fibers (like in chaps) to offer much more protection than leather, and compressed plates (like helmets) would hinder movement. I'd recommend good saw maintenance above all -- make sure your chainbrake works, the chainbrake handle isn't cut, and the chain catcher is intact. Keep the chain tensioned properly, and avoid twisting it in the cut. Oh, and don't outrun yourself while bumping knots. That's about the only way I've ever thrown chains, except for once when I hit a bullet and dragged it under the drivers.

 

[BigGthetree]

I doubt that Kevlar would be a good material for gloves -- the chain shouldn't be moving fast enough, even thrown, for matted fibers (like in chaps) to offer much more protection than leather, and compressed plates (like helmets) would hinder movement. I'd recommend good saw maintenance above all -- make sure your chainbrake works, the chainbrake handle isn't cut, and the chain catcher is intact. Keep the chain tensioned properly, and avoid twisting it in the cut. Oh, and don't outrun yourself while bumping knots. That's about the only way I've ever thrown chains, except for once when I hit a bullet and dragged it under the drivers.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, good info here. I really appreciate it. Scared the Hell out me when that chain broke like that. It was pretty new. Anyway, I use both the chain roller and the chain catcher on my 660. Some of the guys use none. Some use one or the other. What are your thoughts? That chain bent the snot out of my chain catcher.

 

[JimmyT]

I've worn White Mule gloves made by Wells Lamont for 25+ years and now they are getting hard to find. I would usually get about 2 years of wear out of them and they even held up in the rain. The gloves made in China can't even come close.

 

[IcePick]

I've worn White Mule gloves made by Wells Lamont for 25+ years and now they are getting hard to find. I would usually get about 2 years of wear out of them and they even held up in the rain. The gloves made in China can't even come close.

All Wells Lamont gloves are made in China now. I use to wear Berlin leather gloves made in Berlin, WI, until they closed their factory a few years ago.

 

[BigGthetree]

Yeah, I really liked and wore Wells Lamont gloves for 35+ years. You are right, they are getting hard to find. All the guys used to wear White Mules. Saw some Wells Lamonts at Costco the other day. They were selling the tanned leather ones by the pair, and you probably guessed it, they were made in China. Good grief. :bang:

 

[GASoline71]

Anything made by the North Star Glove Co out of Tacoma WA. Been in business since 1910. The cat that owns it is a longtime family friend. If any oif you have worn White Ox gloves... they came from Tacoma, WA.

Gary

 

[056kid]

been going all nat-tu-ral for the last week. Got to get the claws back up to work condition.. The cheapo white gloves work otherwise..

 

[madhatte]

That chain bent the snot out of my chain catcher.

Then the chain catcher did its job... replace it, and carry on! I would never run a modern saw without one. Chains move pretty fast nowadays.

EDIT: to clarify, the chain moving around the bar moves really fast. However, in a situation where it breaks on the bottom of the bar, the chain catcher grabs a good length of it and folds it over from below, away from the operator. What flops up and over the chainbrake handle would be moving much slower, as it is not driven by the sprocket, and has no torque behind it, only whatever tension is left over from the force released by breakage. If the chain were to break on the top of the bar, it would simply be thrown away from you.

EDIT EDIT: geeze, hadda think about the physics of that a bit. I mean, I know how it works and all, but writing it out is a different story altogether!

 

[hammerlogging]

Then the chain catcher did its job... replace it, and carry on! I would never run a modern saw without one. Chains move pretty fast nowadays.

EDIT: to clarify, the chain moving around the bar moves really fast. However, in a situation where it breaks on the bottom of the bar, the chain catcher grabs a good length of it and folds it over from below, away from the operator. What flops up and over the chainbrake handle would be moving much slower, as it is not driven by the sprocket, and has no torque behind it, only whatever tension is left over from the force released by breakage. If the chain were to break on the top of the bar, it would simply be thrown away from you.

EDIT EDIT: geeze, hadda think about the physics of that a bit. I mean, I know how it works and all, but writing it out is a different story altogether!

Madhatte, I've never had a pair of the vinyls or whatever they are hold up more than a couple days. My fallers gloves go a month or so.

Right now I'm in fingerless cheapo fallers gloves then with fingers, then 2 layers poly, then woo,l under poly season. When its super cold, then its winter gloves and it sucks, hopefully thats just a few days a year.

Anyhow, chain throw is just smacked, not cutjust smacked. Carry on.

 

[056kid]

bit shaped shin indentations with blood underneath.

 

[madhatte]

Madhatte, I've never had a pair of the vinyls or whatever they are hold up more than a couple days. My fallers gloves go a month or so.

Yeh, if I were falling for a living I'd be all about the good ol' leather and dreading wool days. I only mention the synthetics because I actually spend more time in those. The Therma Fits really are nice for what they are.

 

[LoggingEngineer]

White ox, buy american!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[2dogs]

I wear white cotton rigging gloves, White Ox, Madsen's, Bailey's. They are slippery at first but a little pitch and some soil and they are good to go. No need to change when the job changes to setting choker. I like the blue latex dipped gloves for climbing but they don't last long when handling wood, sometimes only an hour or two.

Leather forest worker gloves are pretty good when someone else is buying them but they don't last when the work is rough. I wear my gloves till they fall off my hand but I still can't see paying $40.00 for a pair of gloves. I think my wildland gloves are North Star but I'm not sure.

 

[wowzers]

I buy White Ox's buy the dozen. I get about a week out of a pair depending on how wet it is and how barbed up our chokers are.

 

[2dogs]

I was next door to the lumber company today having a tire fixed so I went over to get Cody a new pair of leather gloves. There were very few choices in leather and lots of fabric gloves. Almost all the gloves were made in Communist China, all the leather gloves were. Sad. I guess it's true that America's number one export is scrap paper.

 

[Humptulips]

Yep, White Ox. There was a time in the late 70s and early 80s when the stitching was no good in White Ox and I wore Lumberman but they cheapened them up and I went back to White Ox about 85. Been wearing them ever since.

The question is Are you really a logger if you never worn White Ox? I would be suspicious.:biggrin:

 

[indiansprings]

Most of the time just cheap ole cotton string knit ropers gloves, buy em at the feed store for about 6.00 a doz. The plainsmen gloves that Sam's Club sells are a decent glove just to run a saw with, seems like they are goatskin.

 

[mingo]

I like rough rider leather with gel padded palms, they do like to get chips down in the fingers though. White Ox are nice handling cable, but are clumsy hooking chain chokers which we use out here.