Gloves for Cold Weather

[Greenedive]

I was wondering what everyone uses for a winter glove. The best winter gloves I have ever worn were made by Smith Gloves of Galeton, PA. But about 10 years ago, they moved their business up to Michigan somewhere. :-[ I bought a couple cases right before they left, but I am down to my last few pair. They are a lined mitten with a separated index finger that works great for chainsaw work. They have a tag inside that says "Genuine Steerhide'. Sure wish one of you Michiganites could tell me where they are located now.

Barring that....what do you guys use to keep your hands warm on these below zero days? The local saw shop sells a Wells Lamont that is good down to about 10º, but after that....well....you don't want to hit your fingers too hard against anything metal....it feels like they would break right off.....

[Stephen Alford]

Saw of choice is husky 359G with heated handles. best 70 bucks ever spent.  Young fella asks how I keep my hands so warm had to tell him he was't working hard enough  ! Stephen.

[isawlogs]

 036 Arctic , also has the heated handles , I know it dont help ya none with the gloves ... But I feel warm about telling ya what I have .  ;D

[stonebroke]

I have a galeton catalog someplace, It might be the same company? I will try and find it.

Stonebroke

[Sprucegum]

I wear a pair of little girlie cotton gloves 

On top of that - cheap mitt liners

On top of that - cheap leather mitts

I can barely handle the chainsawwith all that , anything more delicate and some layers come off. Usually my hands are so warm even at -15 I can work bare-handed for several minutes before I need to dive back into the triple mitt.

[Coon]

I hear ya Sprucegum.  These southerners wouldn't even move away from the stove for 5 minutes and they would be complainin'. :D  Must be bread into our blood or somethin' cuz just yesterday I put a radiator in a car in -25C weather with no gloves on right from start to finish.  Didn't even get too cold for me.

[isawlogs]

  Did you leave the car running  ???

[MDP]

I use the chilly grips most of the time, when it gets real cold i'll put a thin wool liner in them, my hands stay mostly dry and usually warm.


Mark

[Coon]

No the car wasn't running Marcel.  I had the rad out so that it could be fixed.  I was kinda nervous about fixing it myself but........  I did and it worked out fine.  It wasn't leaking at all yesterday so I think I should give myself a pat on the old crippled up back. ;)

[Greenedive]

These southerners wouldn't even move away from the stove for 5 minutes and they would be complainin'

When I was working back in the 70s they came around trying to get everyone to start using safety equipment (chaps, hard hats, hearing protection, chain brakes). Well...I didn't need all that expensive fancy gear to do my job (didn't think I could afford it anyway) and so I went without till they made it mandatory about 10 years later. Oh how I wish I'd not been so bull-headed back then. My hearing is pretty well shot and I have a few chain scars on my legs and a grinding in my neck from being hit with a falling branch once too often without a hard hat. I also went without adequate hand protection from the cold...sure I'd get white finger, but eventually the circulation would come back, what was the big deal?

What I guess I'm saying is....being Macho doesn't hold quite the appeal it did when I was in my 20s & 30s....comfort and safety take precedence now.... well...most of the time. If I can find a better way to protect my remaining hearing or if there is a better way to keep my hands warm on a sub-zero day or if there is a better chap to protect against the rattlesnakes....then I wanna know what they are. Da...arn...I sound like my Dad did 20 years ago... : ;D

Anyway......those heated handles do sound nice....but my problem isn't just when I am running the saw. I work alone and I'll cut and top a skid (3 to 5 tree length with my little skiidder) and then hitch them up and drag them out to the landing...that is when my hands usually get the coldest....and then buck them up. If I have short skidding it's not too bad, but right now I'm across a flat and down over a couple benches, so it makes for a long ride. Thanks for the suggestions, Guys!

[snowman]

I've found the best thing for sawing is an oversized pair of those yellow mesh rubber gloves, it's kinda stringy looking sticky stuff, can't remember what they are called. Theres a slang term for them I wont post in here.Inside those i wear army surplus wool liners.

[Warren]

We've been from -5 to +10 F in the mornings the past two weeks (thats a balmy -20 to -12 C for you guys north of the border).  Been wearing a thick pair of Carhartt leather gloves with the Thinsulate insulation on the sawmill.  Only time my hands are cold is when I have to come out of the gloves...

Warren

[Ed_K]

 I buy chore gloves by the doz.And a pair of kinco's from bailey's for driving the skidder  .

[Phorester]

I don't do near as much physical hand work as most of y'all, so I don't have to worry about dexterity with my fingers and can concentrate more on keeping them warm.  Most times I'm just walking through the woods on Timberland Exams or doing survival checks on last year's tree planting.  I used to wear the lightweight brown cotton jersey gloves inside a bigger pair of uninsulated leather work gloves.  But now I wear a pair of the insulated Wells-Lamont smooth leather gloves.  Smooth leather because they shed snow and water better, I can then waterproof them with the same waterproofing I use for my boots, and they slid in and out of my coat pockets easier than the rough gloves.

On bitterly cold days in the woods I wear a pair of the thick insulated leather ski mittens. Sometimes I'll even pull my thumb out of the thumb part and put it next to my hand inside the mitten to warm it up.

If I am doing a lot of "hand" work, like using a chainsaw, or when I was cutting, pulling, and loading Christmas trees, I find that a regular pair of uninsulated leather work gloves keeps them warm enough since I'm keeping them warm by the work itself.

[Corley5]

I wear those Kincos from Bailey's for skidder operating too and wear a pair of their cotton knit fallers gloves inside them when it's extra cold.  The fallers gloves are what I when falling too  ;) ;D  As long as my hands are moving they stay warm in light gloves.

[theonlybull]

for skiddin' in cold weather,  a large set of ski-doo mits, that your gloves fit in work good,   that way your gloves don't cool off,  and your hands stay warm when driving...

i find that the worst when working alone,  ya just can't dress for both jobs

[Ga_Boy]

In my military days I got introduced to the wool liners with a pair of X-L leather gloves.   For the past two weeks it has been in the single digits on the F scale outside.  I keep 3-4 pair around in case I get a pair wet filling the water bottle on the mill.

The wool liners with leather gloves works well.  The only thing you need to watch out for is the wool will dry your hands out so use extra loation to keep the moisture in your hands.




Mark

[thecfarm]

I have the heated handles too,cost me only $45 a few years back.I have the same trouble too.I work alone too.My hand will be fine until I pick up the chains that are full of snow and than my hands get wet.I usually have 2 pair of gloves.One for when I'm sawing,which are nice and dry and one that I use when I'm hooking up the logs.Than I swap the wet one with the dry ones when I'm coming out of the woods.I have more than a couple pair too.I dry to keep dry ones around.When the wet ones freeze I grab another pair.Than I have 4-5 pairs to dry out by the wood stove for the next day.The heated handles really did it for me.If they do get cold they get warmed up when I'm running the saw.I got tired of warming my hands on the exhaust of the tractor.

[stonebroke]

Try www.galeton.com

Stonebroke

[Greenedive]

Thanks Guys...for all the suggestions...I ordered a few different pair to try out, some of those Chilly Grips and a pair of Kincos and found a set of wool liners on Ebay. It will be interesting to see what works best for me. Like thecfarm I usually have several pair drying out at night. And Thanks StoneBroke for the Galeton catalog, they didn't have the original ones I was looking for, but they sure do have a good selection of almost every kind of glove. Thanks again!! Love this site!!!

[Ga_Boy]

For wool liners try US Calvery, I picked up about a half dozen pair a few months back for about $3/pair.

They also sell  Danner boots, I am thinking about picking up a second pair of Danner's, it's always nice to have a dry pair of boots to put on in the mornings.

While typing that I flashed back to my young and dumb military days.  At "0 dark thirty" getting up and putting on wet-suit that is still wet and cold from yesterdays diving ops for another day of diving ops.......that sucks....

Now that I am old, I like being warm and dry....

[Quebecnewf]

I use Regular double palm chain saw gloves. These are the ones with the bright colours on the back. They are called forestry gloves by the company that makes them in Canada called GANKA.

I know you get a pair of these with each Johnsered chainsaw you buy.

Have used them down to -25C no problem. I of course have my large cuffs for the ride home on snowmobile on the end of the day.

[Frickman]

The last few years I've been wearing regular insulated leather gloves from the discount store and they've been working well. Only eight or ten bucks a pair so I don't feel bad if I lose them.

[stonebroke]

yer welcome Greenedive

Stonebroke

[Greenedive]

While typing that I flashed back to my young and dumb military days. At "0 dark thirty" getting up and putting on wet-suit that is still wet and cold from yesterdays diving ops for another day of diving ops.......that sucks....

Now that I am old, I like being warm and dry....

Oh, that cold clammy feeling of struggling into a wet wetsuit....YES!!!
I didn't start diving till about 15 years ago...when I 1st learned that a regular joe could learn to scuba dive pretty cheaply, I just had to do it...I was gonna take a trip down to the Carribbean and see all the colorful fishies...Hah...haven't made it there yet. I found all the excitement I need in the rivers between Canada and the US. Niagara River above the Falls, the St. Clair where it comes pouring out of Lake Huron, the St. Mary's off Sault Ste. Marie, and My favorite...the St Lawrence...from Kingston to Cornwall. High current, fantastic wrecks, and all kinds of cool fishes...whoops...sorry...doesn't take much to set me off... :

:D Never tried pulling a winch line with neoprene gloves....somehow I don't think they'd hold up....