The Elysian Fields

Duluth Trading Co's DTPro Kevlar Work Gloves

I've been using these for a few weeks now, for a variety of tasks, so I thought a full blown review was in order.

At first, though they fit, I debating passing these on to Justin. He has slightly smaller hands at the moment, and I was considering going with a size up. After using them, I think the measured size works fine - they are a hell of a lot tighter than the heavy canvas/leather gloves I was using, and much tinier, although that is mostly due to the short wrist vs. gauntlet cuffs. These do come in a gauntlet-cuffed flavor, and I might try them at some point but I'm not in a rush to do so.

I can't really see using the string trimmer without these gloves. Whereas my old pair would be far to clumsy for that task, these provide the needed dexterity, and don't give me that brum-brum-brum-brum aftershock feeling that you get with bare hands. I use them with the walk-behind mower by habit, and they do provide a sureness of grip. Technically not needed for that task, but they do seem to help a bit.

When I did those plantings a while back, I wore them for that task. Now, usually, when I'm doing the planting, the gloves are so clumsy I have to take them off for the fine details such as releasing plants from their containers or holding a sapling's trunk still, and put them on for digging or handling the dirt. I had these gloves on the entire time without a single problem. The only thing I took them off for was to go inside to drink an ice tea, make a meal, or take a break for other reasons.

We have clay soil - especially packed down in the area where the bulk of the plantings went in - and I was able to use the gloves to push clay-mud through the sifter. A quick spray with the hose and they were good to work with. They did retain a lot of that water, but they cleaned up nicely and still performed perfectly at all the planting tasks.

I plan on stocking up on a few more pairs of these.