Gina and the Tuff Chix Gloves

Gina weighs in on HoofPrints’ Tuff Chix Chore Gloves

Better than leather for baling hay; the ventilated fabric helps keep your hands cooler and there’s a strip of padding across your knuckles.

These have their own big story, too. I hated them when I first got the sample. I had it in my stash for quite a while, and I was disappointed that the fingers were a little too long. They were the correct size for me, and I have average hands, so I was concerned that there would be fit problems with my customers. And the material they were made of is so thin – I didn’t see how they could possibly hold up to hard use. This surprised me, as the Tuff Chix fleece winter version by the same manufacturer is perfect in every way – fit, durability, design – nothing could be any better. I figured they just dropped the ball on these and tossed the sample back on the shelf after trying them on.

However, I had a big landscaping project to do, so dug these out and forced myself to wear them – long fingers and all… By the time I finished I was sold. They’d sort of molded to my hands and the finger length problem went away! I was cutting rose bushes and scooping debris out of landscaping rock – these performed perfectly. I love them.

And once I’d worn them to do hot, sweaty work I have a different view of that fabric that I thought seemed flimsy. It’s not flimsy, it’s breathable. And that is a good thing. The backs are a nice mesh that lets the air through while still protecting your hands, there’s a strip of extra padding over the knuckles. Palms are a suede-like synthetic that grips like leather but washes up a lot better. The sides of the fingers are another material – thinner, but still very protective. Very well designed and constructed gloves that beat leather hands down.

Once I’d worn out a pair…

Tuff Chix gloves survived that whole stack – finally the finger tips started to wear through.

I wanted to rave even more about them. My customers tell me these are great for grooming, building fence, baling hay and other farm chores, gardening, and even riding, but I put my own Tuff Chix to the test on a massive firewood stacking project.

Here in Indiana, the Emerald Ash Borer has killed nearly all the big ash trees. Our friends and family know we heat with wood, so we were gifted an enormous amount of ash logs. It was going to take forever to cut it all up and split it, so enterprising hubby rented an amazing firewood processing machine that automates the procedure. For a week, he fed the machine and I stacked the results, with a whole lot of sweating in between.

After stacking about 16 cords my right glove finally started to wear through on two fingertips. Most impressive to me was the fact that ALL of the stitching was still tight and secure, even on the padded palms and across the knuckles where there is a great deal of abrasion. I’d say for a $20 pair of gloves I got my money’s worth.

To order Tuff Chix Chore Gloves click here

Tuff Chix come in Winter Fleece Gloves, too!

These one of my favorite products that I’ve not talked much about before. If you’ve been following HoofPrints for very long you know that I don’t suffer products that fail to perform. I test everything that comes through the door to make sure it is, indeed, exactly as I am representing it.

IronClad’s Tough Chix fleece gloves aren’t your average girly pink gloves that you’d pick up at Wal-Mart, wear for a season and then toss because they’ve fallen apart. These are engineered by a manufacturer known for it’s durable men’s work gloves. They applied all that experience making good looking, good fitting gloves to these women’s gloves.

To order Tuff Chix Winter Fleece Gloves click here

Shown here are two pair that I personally have been wearing for a few years now. One pair is the original sample that I ordered from the manufacturer to try out. The second pair was returned by a customer who wore them for a while and then claimed they didn’t keep her hands warm. Now, to clarify: if you live somewhere like North Dakota and are doing chores for hours in -20 degree weather, then these are not the gloves for you. But for the rest of us who don’t encounter such extremes these really fit the bill.

They’re soft, flexible, and give you a LOT of dexterity for a winter glove. I can personally fasten all the necessary buckles needed to tack up and ride without taking them off. I can wrangle supplement bucket lids, dip and measure rations, coil up a muddy, recalcitrant hose – pretty much anything I need to do in the barn. And more: the back sliding door to my barn gets stuck when the ground freezes. Because of the way it’s situated, normal digging implements just won’t work to clear out the extra dirt and gravel that’s accumulated and is heaving up, blocking the way. The best way to do it is with my fingers. I hack at the frozen stuff with a pick to break it up, then rake it all out of the groove with my fingers. I’d say that it’s expecting a lot for a pair of $24. gloves to hold up to that kind of treatment for very long, but these two have survived the ritual without apparent wear. The top picture shows what they look like after a few week’s hard labor – the bottom pair just came out of the washer. Yes, they clean up that good.

Wanna read more?

For more fun on the farm, go here

Adventures in remodeling are here

Is the house haunted? There are some stories about that here

Laughable housekeeping advice is here

Is this all I do? Post pictures and stories about life here on the farm? Nope! HoofPrints.com is my “real” job.