Tool review: Venom Steel nitrile gloves
Stronger finishing gloves that are still easy to get on.
I use nitrile gloves almost daily in my shop, typically taking them on and off many times a day, particularly if I’m working with stains, dyes, or other finishing products. My current gloves are good quality quasi-medical gloves that are resistant to chemicals, but they’re hard to put on and off and are frequently destroyed trying to get one on a damp hand. I keep a bottle of talcum powder around for that purpose, but that’s a messy hassle.
I’ve had a much better experience with Venom Steel gloves. These nitrile gloves have two layers, a tough outer layer and a slick inner one, that make it easy to put them on or take them off without destroying the glove or my patience. They even stood up to student use. I took several pairs to a class and they held up amazingly well. We were building a large torsion box, and two of the students wore the gloves all afternoon with only one rip in one of the gloves.
The gloves also feel good—so good that I’m wearing them as I type this review! They seem to do well at keeping the chemicals at bay and are tough enough to survive rigorous use in the shop. Venom Steel sells them as “one size fits most,” which means they’ll be a bit big on small hands.
—R.J.
Photos: Roland Johnson
Comments
Thanks. When I go through my stock of nitrile gloves I will keep these in mind. Speaking of gloves. Different glove materials have different resistances to different chemicals. I was more in tune with the specifics of which glove types were best for the chemicals I was working with. Below is a link to one (of many) websites that starts to go over what I mean. It might make a good FWW article in the future to review disposable glove types for the chemicals/solvents we use as woodworkers. For all I know, this has been done.
https://www.coleparmer.com/tech-article/disposable-gloves-chemical-compatibilty
I would like to second the suggestion of a FWW article. The referenced chart is very specific to one brand, I see different ratings for nitrile gloves with different product names, a bit confusing. I would like to see another column given the finish materials that are primarily each chemical; I can't remember the chemical content of various lacquers for example and I had to think hard to remember which alcohol is used in shellac.
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