I am bummed I have only wore them maybe 10 times but the gloves I got from dandant the ones that come up tot he elbow, they tor up by the elbow where the fabric doubles over and it is stiched, it tore right on the stiching. Now you know that is right were the bees are going to get in :'( :'(
Do you have a wife or mother? If not, then just get a needle and thread and a scrap piece of cloth and patch them. Doesn't have to be pretty, just has to be done!
duct tape
or better yet just forget the gloves.
duct tape...... :-D
Identical thing happened here 3 times. I've sewn them up and they work fine now. I only use them when I'm removing supers for extraction though. I used gloves for my first 3 years. I started going gloveless last year and can't imagine going back. It's a little unnerving at first but you learn quickly and stay a whole lot cooler doing it in jeans and a T-shirt.
By the elbow?? Bees don't sting the elbows!! :-D
Don't worry, I was bummed when my gloves started getting holes in the hands and fingertips. I'm glad it happened, because I procrastinate so had to use them a few times like that, and found out that the bees won't target those areas any more than anywhere else. Now I don't use them....
I am brand new and I don't wear gloves. I think it helps me to be more carefull when handleing frames. I do wear my suit with veil anytime I am pulling frames.
I use gloves about half the time. I find I am much more careful without them :) Course, once I took about 20 stings to the hands. When I realized I wanted to start sobbing, I got out the gloves instead.
It's a sign to ditch the gloves, methinks. Just be sure to take of your rings.
I love all of the bravado with stings...I feel like I have a really high pain threshold, but when I take a sting..it hurts! This morning, I must have left a little patch of skin exposed on the back of my neck where I didn't pull my veil down in haste...I was just adding a super...haha. They frenzied and just one bee from mean hive hit that spot and it still smarts as I sit here at work :shock: I know it was too early and I didn't have the smoker lit like I should have :roll:, but I vote for ducttape...haha. I really applaud all of you beeks who can take a sting and maintain composure without getting rattled...I can't get that stinger out quick enough :-D.
-Sting Wus
I just like showing more bravado than my big, hairy, barrel-chested bear of a husband :-D
I tore the palm out of a set of gloves years ago. Old leather. Wet with sweat all the time. I was using a j hook to pull up frames that were glued in and tore a big whole in the palm. Used it was another year or 2 and even got stung through the whole but never did try to patch it. I think in that pair of gloves I burned a whole in the cloth arm part also. Burnt leaves from the smoker flew up and burned a whole there when I was reloading it.
With all those holes, AllenF, I'm wondering why you bothered at all? Sounds like going into a hive with fishnet stocking gloves on. :-D
I do not consider it bravado at all...it is mastering the craft. Ross Conrad said it well in his book Natural Beekeeping, and I grossly paraphrase: If you always work your bees fully armored you tend to treat them with less respect and care since there is no consequence for doing so. :-D To be able to work your bees un-armored and not get stung should be the norm once you gain enough understanding of the honey bee, IMO.
They kept the bee glue from staining up my hands too bad. Now, I use the blue nitrile gloves.
I'm a sting wuss too, but i discovered that an occasional sting (which happened anyway) wasn't as bad as soaking through my jacket and the dehydration that followed!!
Quote from: NasalSponge on June 28, 2010, 01:29:44 PM
I do not consider it bravado at all...it is mastering the craft. Ross Conrad said it well in his book Natural Beekeeping, and I grossly paraphrase: If you always work your bees fully armored you tend to treat them with less respect and care since there is no consequence for doing so. :-D To be able to work your bees un-armored and not get stung should be the norm once you gain enough understanding of the honey bee, IMO.
I disagree that suiting up causes me to treat my bees with less respect and care. For myself, by being protected I am calm and not concerned about being stung and take my time with whatever I am doing. I am years away from "mastering" beekeeping but I doubt if I will ever work my bees unprotected. I am not afraid of being stung - just have too many things to do without nursing itchy whelps or swollen fingers. :)