Work Gloves: in search of the perfect material

Okay, I know, there is no perfect material for gloves.
But I've worn through so many different types.
My situation is tricky, I probably need at least two different pairs of work gloves, because I live in the semi-arid tropics. From October to May-June it's dry very very dry. Leather dries out and cracks. The dryness also means that at least 50% of the plants are prickly.  From June to September, it rains a lot—enough for leather to get moldy if you aren't careful.
Canvas gloves are no match for the thorny things we've got around here. I recently tried some made of sort of synthetic material that were good for like 6 months, but now I've got some holey synthetic gloves that aren't going to decompose for a very long time, so I'm not buying those again.
Hmm, so it seems like the question is probably how to I properly care for leather gloves in this climate? or how can I reinforce/thicken canvas gardening gloves? add a suede palm or fingertips?

My family are weekend permies, my husband and I work in higher education during the week and we have three teenaged kids--one who is a classical guitar player so hand protection is important for us.

Hey Melissa. That's a tough question. And a very good one!

The gloves I scrounge up don't seem to fall to dust like yours. I'm not sure why. I can tell you that repairs with "the good old Canadian hockey tape" work perfectly, and often outlast the original material. Don't throw anything away -- it can be repaired!

For super spiny stuff, sometimes you can scrounge old welding gloves and wear another layer inside. Tough stuff!

I prefer leather work gloves.  I guess I am lucky to live where I live because my gloves are all old and have never dried out and cracked.

Mine may be cowhide so maybe that is why they have not dried out.

This article might be of interest:

https://www.bobvila.com/articles/best-work-gloves/

I used to go with the cheapest work gloves I could find.  More often than not I did not wear work gloves.  Maybe a year ago, #someone posted a You Tube review on this site.  I followed the advice … spent a small fortune on high quality gloves …and have never regretted it.  

John F Dean wrote:I used to go with the cheapest work gloves I could find.  More often than not I did not wear work gloves.  Maybe a year ago, #someone posted a You Tube review on this site.  I followed the advice … spent a small fortune on high quality gloves …and have never regretted it.  

Do you remember the brand name of these high-quality gloves? My guitar-playing daughter will be eternally grateful.

I deal with a bit of an opposite problem in that my leather boots are exposed to salt and cold, but with a similar result to the drying and cracking you described. If you like the utility of leather gloves, however, you can invest some time and materials into their maintenance to keep them in good shape for much longer. (When I was a kid, I had a little shoe care business, so my thoughts here are based on handling roughly treated shoe leather, plus my own experience with my shoes in a snow/slush winter climate)

First, some kind of absorbent liner would be helpful, something like a thin cotton liner glove. It will absorb some of the sweat from your hands and spare the leather that corrosion. You can wash them between uses. That will keep the leather from getting as much salt saturating it. Sweat is really hard on leather.

Next, a damp cloth wipe-down after use will keep dirt and other things from abrading the surface over time. This will help keep the exterior in shape. Then, be mindful of not storing them in too sunny a spot; for day to day, handing them inside a closet or on the back of a door will let them air out without sunburning. If you're not going to use them for a while, put them away in a drawer, not air tight, but just to slow down drying in the air.

Finally, an occasional thorough cleaning with saddle soap and a good oiling will keep the leather supple and prevent drying and cracking as much. I'm used to shoe leather so I have used the tins of shoe oil that my dad always used but have heard of using olive oil, lecithin, etc. A saddle shop would be a good place to look for ideas of what to use since a saddle would likely undergo many of the conditions you are dealing with.

Side note: I am curious how your son maintains the humidity in his guitars in that climate. Winters here are rough on guitars and I'm always looking for good solutions.

Thank you Mercy,
We have totally neglected the care of the leather gloves--usually, we collapse from exhaustion on Sunday evening after a hard day of work. But I think it will be worth it to invest some time to clean them and I will look into some liner gloves, I didn't think about sweat corroding the leather.

Mercy Pergande wrote:
Side note: I am curious how your son maintains the humidity in his guitars in that climate. Winters here are rough on guitars and I'm always looking for good solutions.

It's a daughter who plays the guitar.  She, and her violinist sister both have Dampitfor their instruments. It's a tube that's a humidifier that can go inside the instrument.  It's particularly important for the violin which is a 250-year-old family heirloom.  I think it's actually slightly less of a problem here than in a cold climate as we don't have any artificial heating or cooling in our homes. So while it's dry, there's not that much of a change from indoor and outdoor humidity and temperature levels.