Everyone who grows roses has the same scar on the inside of their forearm. You reach in to take out the dead wood, the glove stops at your wrist, and the cane gets you anyway. These run about 40 cm from fingertip to cuff, so the whole forearm is covered on the way in and on the way back out. Pruning stops being the job you keep putting off until the weekend.

Why They Stand Out

• The cuff is the whole point — 22 cm of flared gauntlet past the wrist. Ordinary garden gloves leave the exact strip of skin that gets shredded.
• It flares, so it does not fall down — the cuff widens toward the elbow, which keeps it sitting up your arm instead of sliding to your wrist every time you reach.
• Reinforced palm patch — a second layer across the heel of the hand where secateurs and loppers wear through first.
• Suede-feel upper, not a slick coating — enough grip on a wet secateur handle to hold it properly, which is a safety issue as much as a comfort one.
• Thorn resistant through the cuff and the back — roses, bougainvillea, blackberry, citrus, cactus. The things that make people give up on a bed.
• They flex at the fingers — a gauntlet is no use if you cannot work the secateurs. These are soft enough to use all afternoon.
• A hanging loop on the cuff, so they live on a hook in the shed rather than in the bottom of a bucket.

Where to Use Them

• Pruning roses — the job they exist for, and the one where ordinary gloves fail every single time.
• Bougainvillea and citrus — both carry thorns people underestimate until they are in the middle of the bush.
• Cutting back blackberry and lantana — the weekend job that otherwise ends in antiseptic.
• Handling cactus and succulents — repotting an agave or a prickly pear without spines in your hands.
• Hedging and reaching into shrubs — anywhere your arm goes further than your hand.
• Clearing a neglected bed — the first big cut-back of spring, when you do not know what is in there.
• Long afternoons in the beds — hours of pruning with your forearms covered the whole time.

How They Work

1. The gauntlet cuff flares out past the wrist — 22 cm of it, sitting over your sleeve rather than under it.
2. The palm and fingers are a softer panel, so you keep enough feel to work the secateurs.
3. A reinforced patch covers the heel of the palm, which is where wear starts.
4. The elastic across the back of the hand pulls the glove snug so it does not twist as you grip.

Getting the Size Right

1. Measure across the widest part of your palm, not including the thumb.
2. M fits a 10.75 cm palm width, L fits 11.25 cm — about 40 cm and 41 cm overall length.
3. Between sizes, go up — you want to get them off quickly when a thorn goes through.
4. Pull the cuff over your sleeve, never under it, or everything you cut funnels down your arm.
5. Wear them before you need them — put them on at the shed, not when you are already reaching into the bush.

Care and Maintenance

• Brush the dirt off dry rather than soaking them — a wet gauntlet takes days to dry properly.
• Dry them in shade, never in the sun or on a heater, which stiffens the material and cracks it.
• Hang them by the loop instead of folding them, so the cuff keeps its shape.
• Check the palm patch each season — once that goes through, the glove is done.

Specifications

What's Included

• 1 pair × Long garden gauntlet gloves in the size you select