Repairing Rubber Gloves

[Old Raft]

If we totalled up all the things that could be fixed instead of throwing them away it would be a tidy sum, but it's often exactly how to fix things economically that is the problem. 

Rubber gloves are no exception, and I do admit to using rubber gloves for all kinds of things including when refilling ink cartridges, washing up the cat and dog bowls, getting the worst gunge of plates etc. before putting in the dishwasher, messing with plating chemicals and so on.

When they develop a split or a single pin hole they are rendered useless.

I have in the past tried sticking patches on (from other gloves) and even covering a whole finger or thumb with the same from another defunct pair. Wearing one pair under another does not work as you end up with a layer of liquid between the two. I had thought of Sugru but apart from the cost one sachet being almost the cost of as glove it would be too hard when cured, self vulcanising tape would be too bulky and patches for a cycle innertube would probably be the same.

I admit that disposable gloves (excellent ones from Wickes) maybe the answer. 

[mikethebee]

I guess the next best would be to recycle the gloves, but I don't know if that is done at all, maybe  the disposable ones are designed to decay gracefully. -Mike

[Jay Abbott]

There is something called liquid latex. I think I probably saw it in an episode of CSI, club-goers would paint it on their bodies (or it might have been a fetish club - both are equally likely in CSI). Anyway - would a drop of that on the inside of the glove seep through the hole and seal it?

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[Gary Fletcher]

You could buy 10 boxes of a 100 gloves just to repair a couple, thats spendy stuff!! Just bought some for moulding models - hoping to do some experiments next week with polyurethane resin and 2 part epoxy as well as clay with pewter - but different topic.

[Jay Abbott]

I have no idea if this stuff is appropriate or would work, it seems to be designed for roofing. A 750ml tub costs £12.74: http://www.diy.com/nav/build/building-materials/roofing/roofing_sealants/Isoflex-Liquid-Rubber-Black-750ml-9272946 and rubber gloves (household/kitchen) are about 50p a pair, so you'd have to repair 26 pairs to break even.

However, if you are a serious rubber-glove user (and they get damaged a lot) then estimating at 5ml per repair (if you use a small brush so not much is wasted), the tub would do 150 repairs. If there is no bias as to which glove gets broken, then statistically you should be able to recover 50% of your broken glove pairs by combining the non-broken single gloves, this is negligible when talking about 1 pair, but we're talking about a serious rubber glove user here, so 150 repairs means 75 pairs didn't need to be replaced (since you could recover the other 75 for free anyway). So this would save you £24.76 (£37.50 for the 75 pairs of gloves minus £12.74 for the liquid rubber).

If each repair takes 10 minutes of your time, you would have spent 25 hours of your time to save that money, so not really worth it from a purely financial point of view I'd say :) But the joy of repairing something instead of throwing it away is priceless (as is the joy of doing some weird and probably pointless calculations for the sake of an argument that you don't actually have any direct interest in, but you're just a bit bored), so go figure :D

Jay

[Eric Rowen]

Clay with pewter seems unlikely but interesting (how?) 

[Eric Rowen]

I have some black liquid rubber Isoflex as above used for fixing settlement cracks on the garage roof some years ago, so effectively free. It is a bit thick though e.g. much thicker as an example than golden syrup and does not taste quite as good, so have to factor in the cost of something to thin it a little.

Tesco among others (via an "Approved Partner" {are they trying to do an Amazon?} ) have liquid latex for  £11.95, £15.20 including delivery for 1 L  

Being somewhat of an expert on rubber (gloves :-))  the cheaper pairs are A. Worse at breaking and B. Not usually available in large or extra large.   (hint... use some form of drying powder like talcum powder or Lanacane powder (expensive but not talcum and very good) inside the gloves to prevent them getting stuck to your hands) as getting them stuck when putting them on and off is probably responsible for tears and pin holes.  Asda did their usual, sell the branded make for a while, then substitute their own brand which apart from not available in x-large were of inferior quality too.  

One or two web pages on the subject suggest turning the gloves inside out cleaning with alcohol and applying liquid rubber like substances, then the same procedure on the outside. 

My time is free (but don't send me your rubber gloves to mend ! but I would accept them as gifts assuming they are not contaminated) as I'm retired. 

Statistically the chances of the same glove getting damaged is not likely so in theory buying more pairs and matching unbroken gloves is a possible scenario, but unless bought in bulk it may be difficult to get the same make.  Having said that as they are not as fashion accessory then wearing different colours/makes etc. isn't a problem  :-)) 

I suspect paying more for the gloves and using the types (more like rubber gauntlets) intended for handling corrosive chemicals may be a better approach. 

Haven't done the sums 

[Gary Fletcher]

Sorry late should have read "clay, silicone rubber with pewter"

[J S]

I found that a simple and quick way to fix small glove cuts/holes is using double-side tape on the cut/hole then put a small piece of saran wrap.on it. Done. Especially latex gloves for kitchen use. I found out a few days ago and have used the method a couple times on two gloves with tiny cut/holes.

It's still doing fine after a few days. As easy as it gets. 

[Eric Rowen]

Old threads never die :-)  but old gloves do. 

On Fri, Apr 14, 2017 at 12:23 AM, J S <yoda.ca...@gmail.com> wrote:

I found that a simple and quick way to fix small glove cuts/holes is using double-side tape on the cut/hole then put a small piece of saran wrap.on it. Done. Especially latex gloves for kitchen use. I found out a few days ago and have used the method a couple times on two gloves with tiny cut/holes.

It's still doing fine after a few days. As easy as it gets. 

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