I use coconut oil and have used olive oil too to condition my leather, except I do it inside and out. It makes the gloves waterproof and I find that they last longer too.
I think that olive oil is a decent choice to use on leather. But I personally wouldn't use coconut oil,just for the simple fact that it doesn't stay liquid at room temperature. And in my experience,leather conditioners and oils that don't stay liquid at room temperatures. Mink oil being an example,as it has an approximate consistency of Vaseline at room temperature. Will seem to leave a kind of residue on your leather items that were treated with them after a while. I had this actually happen to me with a Fillet Knife that I bought,which had a pretty nice looking leather sheath for the knife blade included when I bought it. I thought that it would be a pretty good idea to treat it with mink oil to help preserve the leather and waterproof it. BUT after a while it ended up leaving a whitish,really crappy looking residue on the leather sheath. And that is why I say to consider NOT using an oil or leather conditioner,that will not stay liquid at room temperature. So far though I haven't ran into this same issue with olive oil yet. Although I admittedly don't know about if the lotion types of leather conditioners have a similar issue with leaving a residue,as I personally have not used them myself. And I hope this gives anyone who reads it something to consider,when deciding on which oil or leather conditioner to use on their leather items. ESPECIALLY when it comes to use on finer and more pricey leather items like: bags,hats,knife/axe sheaths,horse saddles,reins and shoes.
I did this to my gloves to do a bunch of chain sawing and clearing, and they are much more comfortable. You can drop down one size because the seams will be on the outside which gives you more room inside. Thanks for the great tip!
Using a saws-all for cutting up a tree I could have used this tip as the seam on the inside of my thumb really ravaged my lilly white hands, lol. Thanks again.
For a second I thought WTF, but yeah turning inside out and knowing they are just for use, to be replaced. It makes sense.(for those soft handed sissies) lol.
I personally just use the cheapest extra virgin olive oil that I can find to use on my work gloves (think like the great value brand). Quite a bit of it is cheap AF,it stays liquid at room and most other temperatures which is a plus. And unless you have some odd allergy to olives or something,it won't irritate your skin and it has no real smell either. I have used it on more than a couple of gloves that were going to be trashed. And they were pretty soft and pliable,as well as being pretty water resistant after being oiled and worked just a little bit. So I know that it works to help condition/recondition leather. I actually watched a documentary once about how leather is made. And APPARENTLY the factory uses vegetable oil to help recondition and soften the leather,after the tanning process is completed.
I had never seen the fancy nfpa approved gloves with the kelvar cuffs on the fire line. in fact the nfpa didnt even had approved gloves last year due to the fact they were putting them through fabrics tests involving washing and drying tests, not ideal for leather so they are re working the tests.
I'm just seeing this, and I have a question; haven't NFPA 1977 (So as not to be confused with structural gear) gloves been around for a while? I know I got given a pair in the Navy about ten years ago with an NFPA tag. Are you guys required to wear those, or is there leeway with some stuff?
i wouldnt turn them inside out for rope work, Petzel makes a fingerless glove with padding in the palm which is nice for long repels or multi section "all day: rope work
I get yellow hands from new gloves leaking dye on me. I can get all the leaching done up front in one use: i soak them in warm water in the sink until they get soaked, then grip and squeeze a towel and sit there until they dry. The dye gets washed off and they're form-fitted to my hands.
like repelling? if so cheap leather gloves work fine. and the cheaper gloves are thiner and you want that. as they get to thick you lose the abilite to grip well. also chalk your hands before you put gloves on or taking off may be hard and sweat will make inside of glove slick and your hands can slide out. hope this helped some.
Great tip mate, especially about the sweat wiping!! I usually keep mine the normal way out, with some mink oil which hardens them a bit then use a thin cheapo pair underneath to stop rubbing.
From what I understand you should not modify your PPE. Also, you should wear PPE (gloves) that meets the NFPA standard. By truing you gloves inside and putting oil on them you modifying the them and may are limiting the effectiveness of the the as PPE. But I have done both of those thing to my gloves and used off shelf gloves on the line.
