Potential 2020 Garden To-Do List Addendum: Upgrade Garden Gloves

Over the weekend, I started to organize some of my garden tools in preparation for the Spring garden season and began to turn to my hand tools.  Part of stimulating my organization this weekend was the whole 'social distancing' thing that we're doing, but it was also this video from Erin - the Impatient Gardener - where she talked about how she sharpens and treats her garden tools.


I'll come back to that video in another post (mostly because....ummm...the whole Niwaki pruners are pretty sweet and warrant a post where I lust after them, right?)

I have collected my tools and have begun to think about how to store them in an easy-to-use way for the season.  I also began to look at my gloves and inventory'd them. 

Out of that exercise, I think I'm going to call it now:  I need to add something to my 2020 to-do list:  Upgrade my garden gloves.  Here's my full 2020 list. 

For the past few years, I've been MOSTLY using disposable gloves in the garden.  I like these grey 'Gorilla Gloves' that Menards sells and have found it easy to grab a new pair every time I go out in the yard to plant.  But, they oftentimes rip when I'm doing something more than very light-duty yard work.  That means that it might be time to really upgrade my garden gloves. 

I've been lusting after a particular pair of gloves for seven years.  Yeah...seven years.  Why?  Because I first read about this pair of gloves on Neil Steinberg's blog in 2013.  In his column, he talks about a Chicago-based glove company called J. Edwards of Chicago that makes gloves for linesmen.

Linesmen? Yeah...the guys who climb electrical poles and do work for utilities.  The gloves are thick, most have 'cuffs' and they do a great job protecting professional hands.  

I've been a fan of Neil Steinberg's columns for some time, and LOVE this little paragraph.  Makes me smile.  From his 'Stuff I love' piece back in 2013:

At first, when I put them on, it was all I could do not to spread my fingers and hold my arms straight out over my head, wiggling my fingers and waving at the world. I still glance about, to see if the neighbors are pausing at their yard tasks and passing drivers slowing in the cars, thinking, "Whoa. Check out that guy's gloves."

The problem?  J Edwards doesn't sell directly to consumers online.  They mostly sell to US power companies. But, Neil's piece notes that you *could* try to reach out to them and see if they'll sell a pair direct to you.  

I'm thinking that my choice is mostly narrowed down between these two gloves that you see below.  The Linesworkers Short Cuff or the Foreman gloves.  

Image above from the J. Edwards catalog.

Sure enough...they have a 'contact us' page on their site.    I'm going to look through their catalog, then drop them a line to see if they'll ship me a pair.  If they do?  I'll be able to cross this item off my 2020 to-do list addendum.