What gloves/mittens and caps do you use?

H

HM

Joined
Dec 11, 1999
Messages
641
Hi All,

Many manuals recommend the use of gloves even when just camping and I certainly saw state park rangers with leather gloves attached to their backpack when patroling trails in Zion S.P..
I am curious what kind of protection do you use or would prefer in different weathers? Anything from cork hat, boonie (?) hat, fur caps, wool caps, balaclava, fleece caps, baseball caps, cowboy hat, bandana, 'dog rag' (?).
For hand protection: fur mittens, woodburner gloves, goat/pig/deer/calf skin gloves, fleece gloves/mittens with shell, surgical gloves, wool gloves, ski gloves.
To simplify answer, if you prefer brake it down to categories and answer to the one that aplies:
1) hot dry (desert)
2) hot wet (jungle)
3) temperate dry
4) temperate wet
5) cold dry
6) cold wet

Do you prefer gloves or mittens?

How about Gore-Tex in hat and in glove shell?

What would you use to improvise cap/hat/glove/mittens in survival situ? Consider huge heat loss and protection of hands in survival. (Materials: green hide, leaves, piece of clothes, bags, cattail, barks grass, tinder fungus.)

Thank you for your inputs,

HM


 
Two words: WOOL, LEATHER!

Wool for warmth and protection even when wet. Leather for durability and protection.

I wear wool gloves, covered by wool mittens in COLD weather. I also wear a wool balaclave and a wool scarf. Sometimes some of these are a blend of wool and another more durable material.

I often wear a wool BERET in moderately cool temps.

In warmer weather I wear a BOONIE hat.

I often carry a "dog rag," large CAMO bandannas. These have more uses than you can believe and you wonder how you ever made it without one.
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I always have a pair of LEATHER glove shells in my packs. This is for heavy work where my hands need protection while working.

I've found cotton gloves are a WASTE!

Good luck!


------------------
Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com

You use what you have on you, then you improvise! :)
 
Wool. I like wool. And leather too. For much the same reasons.

I have little experience in very hot weather, but generally I like cotton when I needn't worry about keeping myself warm. There are better materials, but none so cheap and few as comfortable. For a long time I wore a wide-brim felt crushable, very nice in warm weather. No hat is _good_ in very hot weather. That was left behind somehwere, and the camp I worked at wanted us to wear Australian Outback hats, oiled canvas. They suck in hot weather, but are magnificent in rain and hail. I wore it anyways, needs to be replaced about every two summers, they get rather raunchy inside.

I've always carried a pair of leather gloves around. I like the forest service's gloves, of which the black mil spec gloves are nearly identical but different color. These are not good for warmth. Anything but a slight chill and they are almost worse than nothing.

Cold weather gloves, I like wool, but I have several other pairs I use for colder weather. I have a pair of Pearl Izumi lobster gloves (Two finger-pockets, half glove/mitten) Keeps fingers warmer, but lets you use middle/index for braking on a bike. I also had a pair (I hope to find them, not too recently lost) of gauntlet-style ski gloves. They had a man-made removable liner, and a thin layer of insulation in the shell, and were loos enough for me to get a third liner underneath. These are what I skiied in at -45. They kept my hands warm...
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I always did have a problem with moisture buildup in warmer weather though... For cold snowsports, I like a large glove with a high, adjustable wrist that will fit over my jacket sleeve. I prefer shells ofer insulated gloves, easier to dry, and my wool gloves are better at insulating than most folkses liners...

Cold hats? I have a fleece balaclava-style called a HeadSock that is fantastic in very cold weather, but too hot anywhere near zero and above. I like wool hats that can cover my ears for that area. The HeadSock is good for downhill skiing, where you aren't working much, and it will easily fit goggles _under_ it.


Stryver, loving this heatwave, broke 0 today...

 
I personally prefer a combination of synthetics including fleece,leather, primaloft(insulation), cordura, etc.
For dry weather protection I use a Kevlar lined, dorsal reinforced deerskin motorcycle glove(very supple and comfortable).
I am an ardent fan of Gortex and Windblock(Gore barrier) in my coats, gloves and hats.
One only has to look at the products from "Mountain Hardwear" for top quality mountaineering grade apparel.
I much prefer fleece over wool because it does all wool does w/out the "itch". For me it also dries faster and does not retain as much moisture and is much lighter.
Primaloft and 3D Polarguard are fantastic synthetic insulators that perform their function while wet unlike down. I do however prefer down if it has a Goretex shell since it compresses better and has longevity.
Buying individual components and layering is the way to go.This way you can accomodate for the change of weather throughout the day. Also the layering enhances the underlying garments function.
I use cowhide leather gloves for my work gloves.
An excellent workglove for cold weather is a Wells Lamont leather glove with "Comfortemp DCC" insulation.It uses "smart" technology for temperature control. It will soon be available in boots by Rocky Boots.

Hope this helps!

Dave
 
For early season and moderate weather hunting I wear a pair of inlined deerskin gloves for both archery and handgun hunting. When it gets a bit chillier I wear cashmere lined deerskin gloves. I love the tactile feelign that deerskin gives.

For cold weather I wear ragwool fingerless gloves and carry/wear ragwool mittons over top of them when it gets very cold. I have not found gloves that work as well as mittons in deep cold. When I need to use my hands I slip off the mittons and let them hang by lanyard until I can put them back on.
The ragwool gloves with the little rubber dots are the best (not real accurate historically) but they do make gripping things a lot nicer.

In summer I wear a bandana a lot on my head. For fall I wear a wool brimmed hat or a fedora. For winter I usually will go with a Navy Watchcap.

------------------
Lee

LIfe is too important to be taken seriously. Oscar Wilde

[This message has been edited by MichLee (edited 01-09-2000).]
 
Thanks all of you for the wealth of information and please keep them coming if more pops up in your mind.

In general, (even though I have not much experience) I symphatise with the use of natural materials at different weathers. Leather, wool (or felt if pressed) and cotton (how about silk as a bandana?) are all have advantages but drawbacks too. One great advantage is that they will not melt into your skin if catch fire (leather is even a bit flame retardent and strong as used for motorcycle overalls). That is not a first consideration necessarily in wilderness but more for the military. Working few years in organic chemistry labs and hearing about accidents when polymer was over skin still makes me thinking what to wear in skin-contact (prefer silk in outdoors). However, man-made materilas can be lighter and warmer for the weight, insulating better even when wet (from rain or respiration).
Leather is heavy and I believe dries slowly.
Wool, heavier than synthetic materials and dries slower (if remember corrrectly). Plus, it can be heck itchy (might be good for blood circulation in skin
smile.gif
).
Cotton, dries slow, feels cold -as we all know.

In more particularly.....

Plainsman: Do you wear any rainproof shell over the wool gloves in cold wet? Or is the leather glove the shell? Did you make the leather water repellent?

Stryver: Is it possible to get a THIN liner (wool or synthetic) for the leather gloves to overcome the lack of insulation -as MichLee does?
Also, since I am almost bald (leftover hair is cut very short), I have to wear wide-brim hat especially in hot and sunny weather (even here in Jersey) if I spend longer time outside. In humid weather it keeps the annoying bugs away too. In defense of the hat in hot weather, I have to say that I successfully built up a good headache when climbing down and up the same day in Grand Canyon. Having the constantly wet (with water and by respiration too) cotton boonie hat (mil spec desert color) gave me real pleasure on that day. Since then, the boonie hat is always in my backpack.

DDS:
I agree that layering the different materials should give you the best solution for many different situations. Among the layers can be natural and synthetic materials or the combinations (ex. Cordura for glove shell with leather palm, or wool with rubberized palm). I believe Mountain Hardwear is one of the top companies and we should keep an eye on them.

MichLee:
Is the insulation removable from your leather gloves? Do you have any waterrepellency/-proofing on the leather?

Also, I do not know about you guys but my head can NOT be covered by a regular size bandana in 'pirate style'. .....should I see my doctor...?

Also, if socks and underware come in silk and respiration remover layer why caps and gloves do not? Or do they?

Thank you again,

HM

PS: Sryver, enjoy the heat wave
smile.gif
!







 
Nothing special for wet weather as that is usually a RARE occasion for me!
smile.gif
I see a lot of rain now, but cold isn't existent. In ND you mainly had to worry about cold and snow, seldom rain. I had to worry more about SWEAT than anything for moisture.



------------------
Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com

You use what you have on you, then you improvise! :)
 
HM:
I wear a pair of leather gloves most of the time when I drive, and I have a pair of thin synthetic liners that fit under them, and a slightly thicker pair of wool liners. _But_ leather is almost useless for insulation, and unless you need the protection, I'd advise against wearing them.

As far as hats, I agree that in hot, sunny weather a wide-brim is better than no hat, but I have yet to own one that was _good_ at the job, merely better than nothing. I still wander around with a wide-brim hat. I wear them as much for armor as for sun-protection, when I wander around without them, I get holes in my head...
smile.gif



Stryver
 
Glove liners do come in silk, but they are not easily found. Leather gloves are not much good at warmth, unless they are lined. Even then tight leather gloves are ok in moderate weather but not in inclement weather. I wear the deerskin gloves for the covering/protection not the warmth, although they do provide a bit of that. I do not have them waterproofed because most preperations that would waterproof would also make them slick or greasy and take away part of the properties I like about them, the almost but not quite tacky, gripping feel.

In my experience the tightness and isolation of the fingers with gloves is what works against them being warm. If they are thick enough and loose enough to allow dead space for heat retention they are generally clumsy.

That is why I wear the combination of the gloves and mittens. Wool has excellant insulationg properties, even retaining much of them when wet. It is one of the few insulators that will still work when wet. Good wool is not that itchy really.
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------------------
Lee

LIfe is too important to be taken seriously. Oscar Wilde
 
Michlee:

I agree very much, both on the leather and glove vs. mitten. But, I'd like to add something to your layered idea. There comes a temperature when fingerless gloves are very bad. Today, as I left my house, in my leather gloves with wool lines, I slipped on ice in my garage (Idea of the temp?) and spilled coffee from my mub onto my glove. As I closed the door to my house, my glove froze to the door, and I had to rip it off, leaving a black handprint on the door, of frozen coffee/glove-surface. A few weeks ago, I left my keys in the front door, and when I remember, I opened the door quickly, and grabbed them out fo the knob, closing the doors after me, and realizing my hands were frozen to the keys. I had to run them under tap water to thaw them... Such are the tribulations of the arctic, and six months ago, I would have expounded on the virtues of fingerless gloves. Mine are now in my closet, to return next summer...
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Stryver

 
I have thought about that situation before, but never come up with a good alternative, especially a good period correct one ( I know this is secondary to actual use in true survival). So I have kind of gotten used to using my wool scarf to pick up stuff when my hands are damp or the item is, sort of like a pot holder. I even tried those Micheal Jackson looking astronaut glove liner things and they are damn near impossible to hold onto anythign with.

------------------
Lee

LIfe is too important to be taken seriously. Oscar Wilde
 
Styver's post reminded me of an incident I had a few years ago. I ran out to my pickup to grab something I had forgotten in the cab. I thought it was unlocked and grabbed the handle with three fingers. It was SO COLD that when I pulled up and tried to pull the door open, I broke the handle and it frost bit my fingers. (It was locked, btw) Fingerless gloves in this situation wouldn't have helped either...I still would have gotten frost bite!
redface.gif




------------------
Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com

You use what you have on you, then you improvise! :)
 
Michlee:
From what period are you taking fingerless gloves from? And what period are you trying to recreate in your camping/survival?

Stryver, who's period of preference definately did not include XC skis, though his shield might make a good sled...
 
Best bet--use what you already are comfortable with. In my case I find that cheap $2 leather palm gloves are great and expendable. They hold up well too. Couple that with a pair of surplus green wool army liners and you've got a winner.

Turambar
 
Stryver I,m sure it didn't seem funny but we got a good laugh out of the coffee, keys incidents. Where are you any way Barrow.
For me as a Commercial fisherman, and Urchin diver in New England I love that Windbloc polartec Fleece. I had a couple wool sweat shirts but they grew feet while I wasn't looking. and never seen any more. I've got one of those headsoks great things.For diving, once the water get's into the 30's its time for Thinsulate or a pile undergarment for the dry suit. wool socks always though, even in summer.
 
Diver:
I'm just outside of Fairbanks. But it still gets (insert expletive here) cold. The coffe incident I realized as soon as I spilled coffee on my gloves and is just something I put up with, the keys int he door is something I'll have to remember about being in the (really) cold.

However, we have had a heatwaver recenlt. It's been above zero for almost a week, and we've had nearly two feet of snow, with another foot possible in the next few days. I'll be happy if that happens. I broke trail on some XC ski trails no one's been on in over a week because of the snow. Almost a foot of stuff I _sank_ through in XC skiis, and that's under dense trees, not out in the open... No tracks of anything larger than a rabbit since sometime last week, and less than a dozen rabbit crossings in almost 5K. Nothing out there is moving rough now...


Stryver, dreading moving back to the lower 48 this summer...
 
In Ma. we"ve had temps in the single digits for a week(wind chills waay below), but the wind let up today making it feel 30 degrees warmer. My boat is sitting in a cradle of ice on the river so no diving for me. I called the trawler I work on today they were somewhere off Long Island but finding nothing due in part to the recent weather(wind). So here I sit playing with the computer.
John
 
Stryver,

Sorry I never noticed yor question in this post. I work at reincating the Longhunters of the French and Indian war time period. Again sorry for not answering.

------------------
Lee

LIfe is too important to be taken seriously. Oscar Wilde
 
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