Does anyone wear protective kevlar gloves for wet panning gold?

[Old_Festus]

Both my brother and I have been doing quite a bit of wet gold panning recently.

At first I though it was just me.... being bothered by broken off finger nails, painful finger tips and all sort of cuts/abrasions to my hands, from prying up sunken ricks and such. (My finger tips are kinda hurting just to type on the keyboard).

Then my brother happened to complain about the very same thing. Not that we don't believe in shovels when the job requires it...but sometimes you got to dig around and under rocks and such...occasionally sending a sharp piece of rock under your fingernails, etc.

So, being quite new to prospecting...how many guys/gals wear some sort of hand protection, when panning and such?

I was looking at various wet gloves online... that sell around $35 a pair, made of 3mm or 5mm kevlar, etc. I wondered if they are a good investment ....or if purchasing tough style diving/drudging gloves going to be a waste of money --- quickly get holes in them, etc

Any thought on this?...other than telling me to buy a shovel

 

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[vpnavy]

Actually, while I don't pan for gold - I always wear gloves anyway (fire ants, broken glass, etc.) - never know what you are going to hit.

I am sure members will jump in shortly with suggestions - I did find that many members are using Nomex Flight, Ironclad, Baseball Batting, Mechanix to mention a few types of gloves...

 

[hunter_46356]

Probably get a better answer in the Prospecting forum, but I do Prospecting as well as metal detecting and you don't really need expensive gloves. Anything would be better than nothing and when dealing with water some rubberized gloves works best for me. It also depends on how cold the water is as far as what kind I use, insulated or non. It's bout Prospectin time round here the creeks are still pretty swollen and my place is still under too much fast water.

 

[AU Seeker]

Go to Home Depot and get several pair of cheap cotton gloves with a rubber coating on the fingers, check in the garden section, you will wear out gloves just as you're wearing out your hand and fingers, so buying expense gloves will be a waste of money, you can buy 10 to 15 pairs or more of cheap gloves for the cost of one pair of Kevlar gloves, if the water is extremely cold and your hands are getting too cold, buy cotton gloves and wear long heavy rubber gloves over them, either way you go you will get more for your money buying many cheap pairs over one pair of Kevlar, even Kevlar will wear out sooner than you would think moving a lot of rocks.

I dredge for gold and the cheap gloves are what I use for moving rocks, busting open cracks, etc.

 

[BosnMate]

Nope. Never have and don't intend to.

 

[Old_Festus]

Thanks for those replies. I was just watching a video where a guy repairs his "diving" gloves... saying that typically they only last him a month or so. That was my thought too about buying an expensive protective glove. I think I'll just try like AU Seeker said and go over to Home Depot of over to the local Harbor Freight. I don't mind if my hands are wet...I just want to keep them from getting buggered up, while digging around in places I cant see under water. I really dislike wearing gloves but I'll give it a try with some cheap ones and go from there.