January 15, 2014 - 4:18pm
The Best Gloves?
Good evening, everyone... sorry if this has been discussed before, but I couldn't find it. Has anyone purchased and used these gloves from SFBI? - http://sfbi.com/heavy-duty-oven-glove-pair-w-forearm-protection-1-size-detail
I have been desperately seeking a pair of gloves that can withstand an 8-9 hour baking session handling cast-iron dutch ovens in a home oven at 500 F or so. I have been baking for the local farmers market for the last two seasons and have been through three sets of other, supposedly 550 F heat resistant, gloves. I am now double gloving with a kevlar individual finger style glove inside a store bought, rubberized oven mitt! This madness cannot continue! I need help. Any other recommendations?
Thanks,
Joel
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that I bought from SFBI about four years ago. I use them all the time. The long forearm covering stopped my collection of oven rack brands in it's tracks. I was starting to get ladders up my arms. I do have to watch where the thumb seams are. If I pick up something with the seam of a thumb in the wrong place the heat comes through the seam pretty hot and fast. Other than that though, I love them, and I use them all the time. I almost never pick up a potholder pad any more.
As for other ideas, I will say that I tired of the soot building up on my leather gloves from my outdoor WFO. One day I was in a local fireplace specialty supply store and found a pair of black thickly padded cloth fireplace mitts almost as long sleeved as my leather gloves. I bought those for about the same price as the leather ones (and therefore quite over priced IMHO) and now use those exclusively when I bake in the WFO. Black meets black and none the wiser, as long as I remember to clean them up before setting the on the kitchen counter.
Best of Luck
OldWoodenSpoon
Thanks for sharing your experience! I will definitely also refer to this when I bet my own WFO going... someday...
I have some very similar to these. I purchased mine especially for using with my wood fired oven. They nice for picking up the wood and quick hand slide into a hot wood fired oven.
As mentioned above an elbow length glove is great for saving those burns on your upper arms...but they do get hot and I can grab a very hot pot for only a few seconds before the heat starts coming through, so I also sometimes use the extra padding of a hot pad along with the gloves. For indoors though, I like those special heat resistant fabric type gloves but even those get warm quick when picking up an iron pot lid...the Iron Pot lids get so very hot..it is hard to find anything that won't you won't start feeling the heat coming through pretty fast without using a heat pad along with the gloves. I also have a few pairs of the extra long very heat resistant padded gloves with just a thumb on the glove. These are the best for heat resistant but I find them very stiffish and hard to grip a knob on a hot lid or bend around a hot handle..but maybe that's just my old weaker hands.
The leather/sueded long gloves are great but I can really feel the heat coming through fast on anything like iron pots. Mine are black and brown and I purchased them through the FornoBravo.com site for wood fired ovens.
Hopes this helps a little.
Sylvia
Thanks, Sylvia! Yes, this helps... I will check out the site you mentioned. I have had similar experiences to yours with those other gloves.
on Amazon.com
I can just about pick up anything very hot by just using a simple cheap flexible pot holder inserted in the hand of the glove. They are also very fire resistant and I've had mine a very long time. They are very durable and would be hard to wear out.
I also use them for loading my wood logs into the fire and wood pile.
ADDED...very reasonably priced too.
Sylvia
Check with kiln suppliers. They carry gloves that are rated to 900 degrees.
Thanks for the hot (get it?) tip! I bet these could work...
Long Cuff Oven Gloves
They work great for loading and unloading the combo cooker (dutch oven) that has been pre-heated to 500 degrees, and are also very handy for removing my cast iron pizza tray which has been preheated to 550. I personally like having the fingers and mobility that these offer, as they make it very easy to turn out a loaf from a bread pan when using, and even to pick up a loaf out of the combo cooker and move it over to the cooling rack.
Note, however, that you will not be able to comfortably hold 550 degree cast iron for extended periods of time without feeling the heat. They do, however, work perfectly fine (and without transferring any heat) for moving the hot stuff from the oven to the stove top or across the room. Just don't try to carry on a conversation while holding the hot iron (for those that have the strength to do so :)
Having re-read your post, I am not sure that these gloves are the best for an 8-9 hour baking session, if only because they are not super easy to pull on and off, and it sounds like you will be doing that a lot!
Just out of curiosity, how many loaves of bread can you bake in a home oven in 8-9 hours? It seems like a lot of work for little reward. I have always marveled at people who earn money by baking since it seems that you have to bake an awful lot of bread to make a living!
David, I appreciate your time in trying to help me find a solution. I will investigate further...
As to your question about my farmers market experience... well, in short, you're right. There is very little financial reward... when baking and selling just one day per week, as I do. The profit margins are low, and I am definitely not getting paid for my time. In all, I spend about 13 hours mixing and baking the loaves, and then 4 hours at the market selling them. My max output, baking only 4 loaves at a time in rotations, is 32 total loaves. I am selling them, but it's far from a living!
Right now, it's a passion project. There is nothing quite so satisfying as making something with your hands that people enjoy and pay you for.
Thanks again for the info and the question - Joel
I suggested kiln mitts because it sounded like you wanted heavily insulated gloves. What I've used for the last 3 years is lined welders gloves. They are leather with a cloth lining and cost about $10 at a hardware store. As David said about his suggestion, you can't hold the dutch ovens for very long, it's mostly take it out and set it down. But they're inexpensive, easy to take on and off, and protect my wrists.
Let us know what you decide.
Jerry
I know this is a little bit late, but I just joined this forum and thought I'd recommend these gloves that I use:
http://www.amazon.com/Matfer-Bakers-Resistant-Leather-holders/dp/B00FMZSA0U/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1394521182&sr=8-5&keywords=matfer+gloves
Very heat resistant. I use them to move my cast iron DO in and out of the oven at temperatures of around 240C and feel absolutely NO heat through them.
Has anybody here tried the Nomex gloves? Supposedly they can be heat resistant to 1000°F.
Dunno about the specs on this one, but I found really great deals on their site:
http://www.cakedeco.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_prod.html?p_prodid=869&p_catid=&page=1
Here's something similar on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/San-Jamar-KT0115K-Temperature-Protection/dp/B002NQID58/ref=pd_ybh_2