Quick Question...Gloves

[InTheDish]

For engine maintenance, what type of gloves should I get?

Nitrile?

Latex?

Thanks in advance.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by InTheDish

For engine maintenance, what type of gloves should I get?

Nitrile?

Latex?

Thanks in advance.

Nitrile. Latex has zero oil resistance.

Personally, I prefer the cheap red and white coated gloves. My hands get dirty, but they offer much better protection from cuts. Depends on what you are doing.

[InTheDish]

Thanks Thin,

Just changing oil and filters. My hands are so damn big I have to get the XXL and needed to special order them.

Rick

[rbk]

I like a good fitting pair of those Mechanix? gloves, you do lose a bit of dexterity but they protect from bashing your hands up breaking seized parts, once into finer work nitrile.

[JPA Cate]

I rarely wear gloves for anything. However, I also thought engines required blood sacrifices of one while one was working on them!. This is a good case for do as I say, not as i do, and you wear your gloves!

Ann

[rwidman]

I just go ahead and get my hands dirty and wash them when I'm done. I've been working on engines for sixty years or so. I suppose it's just a habit but gloves get in my way when dealing with small parts. Soap is cheap. Blood is a badge.

[a64pilot]

I ought to, but don’t do gloves myself. I believe though as people age the skin gets thinner and slower to heal, so it’s coming, just not there yet.
To get hands clean there are a few tricks like scraping soap under your fingernails prior to working, that supposedly keeps the Black Diesel oil out and makes what gets in easier to remove.
There is also a liquid glove so to speak, a lotion you apply before work that is supposed to make washing up easy. I haven’t tried it though.
I can attest to the waterless hand cleaner is junk though, but to effectively use most hand cleaners, you need to put them onto dry hands and clean your hands without water, then wash off the cleaner as water neutralizes it. A lot like Gunk engine cleaner.

[a64pilot]

Can’t edit my post, my connection is so slow it times out, but here is one liquid glove, there are many though
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Magic-52...000BPEPA0?th=1

[Zugbug99]

Nitrile is the way to go. Latex is becoming harder to find.
Here in Hawaii they have banned the further importation of Latex for use in food industry.
Polypropelene is starting to become more available.

Old mechanics proudly wear their scars as a badge of honor. Nothing wrong with that, I admire them, and wish I knew what they forgot!

But if you are in remote area's, especially in the tropics skin and soft tissue infections are a big problem! The dense keratin layer of the skin is what separates us from the environment. Staph and Strep skin infections are scary!
MRSA the worst - now highly resistant in some areas (ICU's in the hospital are the worst place to hang out). We cannot always rely on antibiotics anymore.

The bacteria don't care if your ignorant of them, they always win!

Coat your hands with a good emollient lotion an hour prior to working on the engine. The hands won't be greasy when you put the gloves on, and the lipid layer will help block exposure to solvents like toluene, acetone, gasoline. (yes, we have probably all used these at some time with no gloves on). I'm guilty too!

[InTheDish]

Very good advice....I don't want MRSA, I want to play Pro Ball!

(I really just want my ice cubes nice and fresh for my reward snort after doing a chore.)

[dwedeking2]

Black Mamba

They hold up well and keep the diesel and oil off my hands.

[Diesel Bill]

Really hard to do any kind of fine work with gloves, but when working on a hot engine they're really helpful. Disposable cheap gloves are good for oil and filter changes and thicker mechanic's gloves are great for protecting hands when pulling and pushing on wrenches that can slip and protect from cuts and punctures. OUCH! I used to use a rag before disposable gloves became readily available. Got to protect those mitts.

[hellosailor]

Rick-
Nitrile are far sturdier, but sometimes latex is good enough for some simple filter work. As long as you're special ordering, get "your" size and one size larger if you can, and double-glove when you put them on, since they all figure out ways to tear anyhow.
There are also fairly good "mechanics gloves" sold in the auto parts stores now. Thicker than plain cotton garden gloves, still fairly good feeling and handling with them. Eventually you'd want to wash them.(G) You may also want to look into kevlar "trash handling gloves" which look like heavier yellow cotton gloves, often with grippy dots on one side. The kevlar keeps some of the dirt off you, but most important, it does not burn or melt. It protects you from hot manifolds, etc. And it is extremely cut-resistant. Your hands may still get a little dirt on them, but they will be protected. Kevlar over or under latex/nitrile makes a good 2-layer combination.
FWIW the kevlar also makes for good sailing gloves. If you need to let a line slip, i.e. drop a halyard two feet or let a sheet out, you'll never get rope burns wearing the kevlar. Very good dexterity through it, never stiffens up (much) either.

[DeepFrz]

Gloves and eye protection are especially important when working on the toilet or holding tank/hoses and even gray water tanks/hoses.

[UNCIVILIZED]

I usually only wear gloves when wrenching on things in cold weather (sub-freezing), as when you bang your hands when they're that cold, it hurts enough to make'em feel as if they've shattered.

That said, if contaminants on your skin, & gripping ability/dexterity are important. Wear your barrier gloves; latex, or nitrile, etc. underneath a pair of protective work gloves. There are some great thin neoprene ones with reinforced palms & fingers, that also have material built in to aide gripping ability. Such as many of the lines from Mechanix Work Gloves | Mechanix Wear

And as a perk, they're half way decent to wear for deck use in colder weather too.