Best Work Gloves For Handling Wood 2023: Know More Than Before

A carpenter is only as good as his tools, and what is the most important tool of a carpenter?

It’s the hands.

Whether you are a professional carpenter or a DIY enthusiast, without the application of your hands, it is impossible to carry out even the most basic woodworking tasks. Therefore, the protection of your hands is an utmost necessity for your craft.

So, the natural question to ask next is “how do I do that?”

Well, the answer to that question is quite simple. You get yourself a pair of work gloves, which were specifically designed with unique features for woodworking purposes.

This is why, we have carefully designed this guide to help you sort out the best work gloves for handling wood. Here, you will find an easy yet detailed map of information that will ensure you get the maximum benefit out of your purchase.

Let’s get started!

Comparison

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Benefits Of Using Work Gloves For Handling Wood

1. Protection From Weather Hazards

As a professional carpenter, you may often need to be at worksites which have unpredictable weather conditions.

This could mean working in extreme cold weather, like on a snowy outdoor. Or, maybe you work in a mill that is extremely hot and humid. Also, most outdoor work carries the risk of being under a rush of sudden rain.

Work gloves have insulation technology that can protect your hands from extreme cold temperatures.

They also come with airflow-friendly and waterproof features. So, if you are working in a hot, humid atmosphere for a long period of time, these gloves can save you from sweat and rashes by letting your hands breath.

The water-resistant feature will protect your hands from getting soggy if you need to work under heavy rain or pull off jobs that can get your hands wet.

2. Safety Against Injuries And Impact

The woodworking profession carries a high risk of injury to a carpenter’s most precious tool, which is their hands. Work gloves can offer protection for your hands against most types of common injuries.

Work gloves are usually made from materials like HPPE and stainless steel, which offer strong resistance against cuts, slashes, punctures, abrasions, and tears. So, they are capable of saving your hands from these types of probable injuries.

Woodworking also involves carrying heavy materials like logs, chainsaw etc. If these things slip and fall on your hands, a lot of damage can be caused from the impact. Work gloves also offer impact resistant features that can protect you from these unwanted accidents.

3. Safeguard Against Harmful And Toxic Elements

Whether you are a professional carpenter or a DIY enthusiast, woodworking often involves chemicals and materials that can be potentially harmful to your hands and skin. A proper work glove uses specialized materials to ensure that your hands don’t come in contact with such elements.

Top 10 Work Gloves For Handling Wood Review

1. JORESTECH, Grey Safety Work Gloves For Handling Wood

We’ve all heard the saying, “Prevention is better than cure”.

As it seems, JORESTECH is a strong believer in that principle as well. They have designed these gloves in a way that allows maximum protection against abrasion, cut, tear, and puncture, eliminating the need for a cure in the first place.

The work gloves comply with the updated EN 388 standard. At the center-left of the gloves, an EN 388 logo can be found, with the number “4 5 4 4” just beneath it. This means the gloves have an abrasion, tear, and puncture protection of 4, within a scale of (1-4). It also has a cut protection of 5 within a scale of (1-5).

The gloves are made from High-Pressure-Polyurethane (HPPE) knitted fiber, which provides them with an impressive amount of durability.

The manufacturer uses a Black Nitrile coating, which doesn’t leave any residue after use. It also doesn’t use chlorine like latex gloves, which can be a great solution for people with latex allergies.

The gloves have a Sandy-finish which provides a superior grip comfort.

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2. Dex Fit, Cru553 Work Gloves For Handling Wood

This product is a perfect combination of technology, protection, and comfort. And to show you that this isn’t simply a flashy, opening line, we’ll explain why we think so.

These gloves have a CE, EN 388, and ANSI certification. A CE certification proves that the product is compatible with the safety, health and environmental standards required by the European Economic Area (EEA).

The product has an EN 388 rating of “4 5 4 4”. Which means the gloves have an abrasion, tear, and puncture protection of 4 within a scale of (1-4), and a cut protection of 5 within a scale of (1-5).

Dex Fit further makes this product qualify for an ANSI (American National Standards Institute) protection level of A4 within a scale of (A1-A9). So, as far as protection standards go, this product has passed them all.

The manufacturer also claims that the product is free from silicone and toxic smell.

Now, let’s talk about comfort. The gloves are made from a combination of 13-gauge, High-Pressure-Polymer and Spandex. Therefore, it delivers a flexible, durable, and snug support to your hands.

The tips are made from Nitrile foams, which allows airflow into and outside of the gloves. And unlike normal gloves, you can smoothly operate touch-screens while wearing them.

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3. Stark Safe,  1 Pair (Large)  Safety Gloves For Handling Wood

Do we work faster or safer?

This is a dilemma we all face in woodworking.

Whether you are cutting boards or curving a hammer-handle, even if you have done it a thousand times before, one inattentive stroke of a knife can send you to the emergency unit in no time.

This is why Stark-Safe brings you a pair of gloves that lets you work faster and safer, all at once.

It has an EN 388 rating of “4 5 4 2”. This means that the gloves have an abrasion and tear protection of 4, along with a puncture protection of 2 within a scale of (1-4). They also have a maximum cut protection of 5 within a scale of (1-5).

The gloves are CE certified, which means EEA has rigorously tested them to make sure the product contains no harmful elements to your or the environment’s safety.

Stark Safe uses a combination of Silica fiber and polyethylene as production material. This provides you the maximal amount of handiness and breathing room a glove can offer. The blue, elastic ring at the base of each gloves ensures a snug fit.

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4. Dowellife, 1 Pair (Large) Safety Gloves For Handling Wood

According to a study done by “Consumer Product Safety Commission”, more than 350,000 people are wounded each year by accidents involving knife usage on the worksite.

Think about it. That is quite a large number.

However, the problem hasn’t gone unnoticed. As a solution, Dowellife offers a pair of hi-tech gloves that are 10 times tougher than regular rubber gloves normally used in woodwork or other technical crafts. The product also has a EN 388, level-5 cut protection.

The manufacturer combines High-density Polyethylene with High-elastic Nylon fabric to create the product. As a result, you get a top-notch pair of gloves, which is flexible, easy-fit, and slip-resistant.

We also discovered that the gloves offer a solid grip even when working with slippery elements like thin oil or water. They are washable, and, thus, can be reused many times. The product is equipped with hang-rings, which allows you to dry them quickly and conveniently.

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5. G & F, Cut Resistant Gloves For Handling Wood

If this product had a motto, it’d be “You can never be too safe”.

The gloves are designed to protect your hands from all possible threats you may face in a woodworking table or worksite.

A combination of HPPE (High-performance Polyethylene) and Cut-resistant Blended-fiber is used to create maximum protection against any kind of cuts, tears, slashes, punctures, and abrasion.

The palms have silicone-block coated stripes which provide an additional layer of protection. They are specifically designed to provide resistance against heat and steam. So, whether you are taking out a hot pan from the stove or operating high-temperature machinery, you can be at peace about the safety of your hands.

With its unique stripe-style design, the gloves also offer a superior grip that is anti-slip and water-resistant. They are lightweight, washable, and easy to wear. The industry-grade, production material allows your hands to breath, and offers relief from sweat and rashes during long work sessions.

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6. Ironclad, All-Purpose Performance Fit Work Gloves For Handling Wood

Did you know that the word, “Ironclad”, originally comes from 19th-century warships with armor-plating?

Well, this product can be considered a glove-version of that concept. Let us explain why.

The manufacturer combined three of the strongest materials used in wearable accessories (thirty-five percent Stretch-Nylon, ten percent Terry-cloth, and fifty-five percent Synthetic-leather) to create a hundred percent protection for your hands.

The knuckles are coated with thermoplastic polymer, which offers a strong protection against abrasions and rough impacts. This particular feature is overlooked in most work gloves.

A cross-breed, cuff mechanism with an integrated, quick-release feature allows you a snug fit. This feature also helps to quickly take the gloves on and off in situations of emergency.

The back of both thumbs is made of Terry cloth. The placement of this feature is intelligent, as it conveniently lets you wipe off sweat without interrupting the workflow.

Ironclad also uses a patented sewing-pattern which makes the gloves quite handy and ready for rough use. The gloves sport a cuff puller, made from thermoplastic rubber, to quickly shift them in the right position.

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7. Ergodyne, ProFlex Thermal Series Work Gloves For Handling Wood

Technology can both be a blessing and a curse, it entirely depends on how you use it.

In this case, however, Ergodyne has surely used it as a blessing. The result is a superior handwear, which easily ranks high among the best woodworking gloves available in the market right now.

This product belongs to the ProFlex Thermal Series. Which means a “Dual-zone 3M Thinsulate Insulation” technology, patented by Ergodyne, is used in production of these gloves. This feature improves insulation level of the gloves to increase warmth in extreme, cold weather.

The gloves use PC-rubber for the cuffs and knuckle-pads. For the fingertips, palm, and thumb coverage, AX Suede fabric is used, which allows a stronger durability than thermoplastic.

The exterior is made from weatherproof, Ripstop fabric. This Nylon fabric is produced by using a reinforcement technology, which makes them highly resistant to tearing and ripping. The outer part is then additionally coated with a durable, water-resistant finish.

The thumb and index finger is intentionally designed to operate touch screens. This feature allows you to multi-function without taking off the gloves.

The manufacturer uses a 3-layer weatherproofing system, which is consisted of a DWR external shell, water-proof membranes and insulation to provide maximum protection against extreme weather conditions.

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8. Custom Leathercraft, Handyman Work Gloves For Handling Wood

There’s a saying, “don’t judge a book by its cover”.  However, even judging from just the cover, we have one of the finest work gloves for carpenters on our hands.

The gloves are made with synthetic leather palms, along with Lycra side panels and a Spandex back. The synthetic leather provides you with an anti-shrink feature. The expandable Spandex and Lycra side-parts offer great flexibility and handiness.

They also include padded knuckles and fingertips for increased protection against abrasion, impact, and scratches.

CLC uses an advanced, insulation technology to provide extra warmth, which keeps your hands healthy and functioning in extreme, cold atmospheres.

Elastic wrist-straps provide a full wing-closure and easy wearing. They also offer an anti-slip feature when your hands get wet or sweaty during extended work sessions.

Each glove also has 3 specially designed fingertips to operate touch-screens on smart devices. Interior of the gloves are stitched to improve the product’s durability by providing protections against tears and rips.

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9. Anself, Cut Resistant Stainless Steel Mesh Gloves For Handling Wood

What sane person would ever try to break stainless-steel blades by hand?

Well, we would, if we were wearing this product. That’s right, these mesh gloves use 304L stainless steel, which allows you to not only hold but break blades without cutting yourself.

304L is a non-magnetic stainless steel which has 0.03 percent carbon, 18 percent chromium and 8 percent nickel.

Though it is commonly used in producing cooking pans and cheese graters, Anself has innovatively used this material with a mesh-style design. The result is one of the most rugged work gloves available in the market right now.

The gloves come with steel straps, which prevent them from slipping off while you are working.

This product is specifically useful for high-risk tasks. For example, if you are polishing a knife, or working with incising diamonds, jewels or glasses, these gloves can save you from an unnecessary trip to the hospital.

They also work great for processing meat, rescue missions involving sharp materials, security usage, and high-pressure, woodworking jobs.

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10. WISLIFE Cut Resistant Safety Gloves For Handling Wood

What is the similarity between shucking an oyster and carving a wooden statue?

Both these tasks have a high-risk of cutting yourself.

Since these activities require technical and critical handling of knives and other sharp objects, one moment of distraction can cost you a lot. WISLIFE intends to minimize this problem by offering you a pair of gloves, which will let you work faster yet safer.

The gloves are made from a combination of Dyneema and high-elastic polyethene. Dyneema is marketed as the world’s toughest fiber which is derived from UHMWPE (Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene). As a result, you get a product that is cut-resistant, flexible, durable, and breathable.

The gloves are EN 388 certified with a level-5 cut-resistance. The meticulously picked, industry-grade materials such as Dyneema make the gloves 4 times tougher than leather. So, you can be sure that your hands will be protected against all kinds of tears and slashes.

They have an airflow based design, which allows your hands to breathe while wearing the gloves. This feature prevents your hands from sweat and rashes, if you need to work long hours wearing them.

All in all, these are the best work gloves for carpenters. They are quite light and comfortable to wear, which allows you a powerful amount dexterity needed for a highly productive workflow.

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How To Choose Work Gloves For Handling Wood

1. Materials Matter

Work gloves designed specifically for technical, high-risk and physically challenging jobs like woodworking uses a range of specialized materials to ensure proper protection and safety.

HPPE (High Performance Poly Ethylene), Spandex, Stainless Steel, Synthetic Leather, TRP (Thermoplastic Rubber), Nylon fiber, and Ripstop fabric are among the most commonly used elements.

Each element or a combination of them serves a different purpose. For example, an HPPE or Spandex work glove will provide great flexibility. On the other hand, a stainless steel, mesh-style glove may lack in dexterity but will be tougher than HPPE or Synthetic leather.

So, asses your needs and requirements in relation to the materials to make the right choice of purchase.

2. Weatherproofing Capabilities

Woodworking is such a profession that may require you to constantly switch between an indoor and outdoor worksite.

For example, you may be finishing a varnish or coating job in the nice warmth of your garage, but a few hours later you may need to head outside to cut a log into pieces. Therefore, we recommend choosing a glove that has you covered regardless of the atmosphere.

Choose a pair of gloves that has at least these 4 features: insulation, breathability, water-proofing, and wind-proofing.

Insulation will save your hands from extreme temperatures. Without proper insulation you may end up with freezing cold hands that are incapable of holding a mug let alone perform intricate technical work.

Without a proper breathable glove, your hands will quickly get sweaty and slippery during hot and humid weather. A glove devoid of an efficient airflow system can also cause rashes, blisters, and allergies on your hands due to a failure of supplying enough oxygen.

Now, let’s talk about water and wind resistance.

Without a proper waterproof glove, you may face a number of problems. Your hands can get soggy and slippery, which can cause various accidents and mishaps. If you’re working in a snowy weather, water can seep into the gloves and turn into ice, which will require you to cut the gloves to get them off your hands.

Wind-resistance is also important as it improves the flexibility and durability of the gloves.

3. Choose The Proper Size

A glove that doesn’t fit properly is of no use. However, lucky for you, most manufacturers provide an elaborate instruction manual, which can precisely guide you to determine the exact, right size for your gloves.

If you are looking to do lightweight work such as painting or coating, you can choose an exact fit glove. This will allow you enough dexterity to do intricately detailed work.

On the other hand, if you are getting into the heavyweight parts of the craft, such as cutting logs with a jigsaw or carving, then a slightly loose fit glove maybe a better option. Apart from allowing more breathability, it will also put an extra bit of distance between your hands and the gloves to increase cut and puncture protection.

4. Is It Tech-Friendly?

We live in an era of smartphones, holograms and A.I. Technology has inserted itself into almost every aspect of our lives. So, it should be no surprise if your woodworking process also depends on a few smart devices.

This is why it is important to assess whether or not the gloves you intend to buy are tech-friendly. The best work gloves for handling wood usually has at least two fingers (usually thumb and the index finger) that are specifically designed to operate touch screens.

Notice this feature before making a purchase. This may seem like a small detail but it is still capable of making your workflow much faster and smoother.

5. Washing Options

Rugged as they maybe, work gloves also require washing, cleaning and sanitizing. Washing your gloves not only increases their durability but also aids to the health of your hands.

However, if you don’t want to waste time manually cleaning the gloves, make sure they are machine-washable before making a purchase. Some gloves are even air-dryable such as the “Ironclad, All-Purpose Work Gloves”.

You can also go for mesh style, stainless steel gloves which require little washing and no drying.

6. Padding and Reinforcement Features

A glove with padded knuckles, palms, and fingertips may turn out to be more necessary than you think. A properly padded glove offers far superior protection against impacts, abrasions, and scratches than a glove without one.

In the process of woodworking, you often need to cut down heavy logs into pieces, or climb tricky parts of the house for a fixing job. An effective padding part, such as a spandex padded back, can resist strong impacts. Therefore, in case of a collision or a fall, it can help to reduce a significant amount of injury to your fingers and hands.

Also, look for gloves that have synthetic leather or thermoplastic rubber reinforcement on the most roughly used parts. This can quite effectively increase the longevity of your priced purchase.

7. The Devil Is In The Details

There are some subtle features that just get past us without noticing. However, failing to evaluate these seemingly ignorable details can cause us multiple long-term issues.

For example, take the mechanism of the cuffs. Some gloves (mostly kitchen-safety gloves) don’t have them. Instead they use an elastic ring for sealing purposes.

Some gloves have a hook-and-loop-closure cuff system. Some products even have extended cuffs, a built-in quick-release feature, cuff-pullers etc.

Another subtle detail we often miss is to check the inner stitching of the gloves. You can check the interior of the gloves to see if they have additional stitching. This feature plays an important role in extending durability of the gloves.

FAQ

1. Why Do I Need Work Gloves For Woodworking?

Answer: Work gloves specifically designed for woodworking purposes deliver a number of benefits that you can’t get from regular gloves.

For example, they use special materials like HPPE and HDPPE which protects you from injuries like getting cut or scratched. They also offer weatherproofing features, along with improving the flexibility and speed of your workflow.

2. What Is EN 388 And ANSI?

Answer: These are safety standard systems that determine the level of protection a handwear offers.

EN 388 is the European standard system and ANSI is the American standard system. They provide you a summarized version of the protection level of a glove.

For example, if a glove has an EN 388 logo with a “4 5 4 4” figure underneath it that means that particular glove provides maximum protection from abrasion, cut, tear, and puncture (in a chronological order).

3. How Do I Clean My Work Gloves?

Answer: Most work gloves are machine-washable, which means you can clean them using a washing machine. You can also manually clean them using a brush, clean water, and soap.

However, you should not squeeze them while cleaning as it can damage the shape and structure of the product.

4. Can I Use Kitchen-Safety Work Gloves For Woodworking Purposes?

Answer: It depends on the purpose you’re using them for.

If you are using them for lightweight functions like painting, varnishing or coating then it is feasible. However, for heavyweight and risky jobs, you should use a professional, woodworking work glove to reduce probability of damage.

 5. How Long Does A Pair Of Work Gloves Last?

Answer: That depends on mainly three features: the brand, features of the product, and user maintenance.

If you get the product from a reputed manufacturer with effective features (e.g. quality material, industry-grade stitching etc.) and can manage to take proper care of it then the gloves will last a significantly extended period of time.

Final Words

Making a decision to purchase anything is almost always difficult. And when it comes to buying the best work gloves for handling wood, it is natural to get confused with so many options to choose from.

We know because we went through that process as well.

Yes, we made a few mistakes but we also learned from them. In this guide, we tried to share those learnings with you, so that you can avoid making the same errors.

Hopefully, as we’ve already reached the end, you are now far less likely to make a purchase that will later turn into a regret. So, happy shopping and may your hands always be protected!