Today you’ll find out what’s my favorite pair of gloves that I always use when dealing with campfires.
And the best part?
I’ll tell you where you can buy them from and get a fantastic deal.
Ready? Here they are:
The BlueFire Pro Heat Resistant Gloves.
And here is where you can check for that great deal I told you about. The price is great and you’ll end up with a quality pair of campfire gloves for which you don’t have to pay a fortune.
I know, when you think about how hot a campfire can be, these gloves don’t look like they can handle it. But there’s a story behind them, and I’ll let you read more about it.
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Somebody stole my old and reliable welding gloves
Yep! They’re gone. Not that I miss them anymore. But who in the right mind would steal a pair of gloves that are ugly, ripped, burned, stinky and full of grease? I guess I’ll never know.
Initially, I went online looking for something to match them. People use them a lot, and old school guys know why.
But as good as they are for handling big hot pots and grills, I never like them when it comes to handling firewood, tiny pots or picking up coal. It’s a nightmare to pick up small things with them.
And then I saw this image somewhere, where a guy was handling the firewood with these thin gloves.
At that moment, I realized this is something I wanted. I need them to allow me to move my fingers, to have a better grip and to be as resistant as the welder gloves were.
So, because I never buy something without reading every review possible, I started to research them and what follows is what I found out.
They are perfect for campfire cooking
For me, the whole camping experience comes down to cooking. I start in the morning, and I finish late in the night when I run out of beer (I can’t cook if I don’t have it). You now understand why the gloves need to provide a good grip and keep my hands safe.
But the campfire is not your conventional gas cooker. You need to maintain it, move the firewood around, add more coals and so on. And many times you’ll find yourself picking up burning branches or hot coals. A good pair of gloves need to protect your hands, and the BlueFire gloves can handle heat up to 932° F. It’s true, after 5-8 seconds you start to feel them warming up, but there is no sudden burning feeling.
They work well with the dutch oven
This topic is for serious cooks. It’s the next level for camping cooking. But handling a dutch oven requires proper heat protection. You need to be able to move hot coals around without burning yourself. Unless you want to hold that coal in your hand for minutes, they do their job correctly.
I have to say though. I still believe that my old leather gauntlets are a bit more fire resistant than these. But if you move around quickly, they should be just fine. The leather gloves fail when you have to cover the dutch oven with burning coals. There’s just not enough mobility in my fingers. At least that’s my opinion.
Embrace the cut resistant material
Cooking is not the only activity on a camping trip that requires gloves. There are a lot of activities that will involve cutting and handling sharp things, so your campfire gloves should be cut resistant. And this is where they shine. With Kevlar being one of the materials that’s embedded in the fabric, you end up with a grade with a level 3 resistance to cut.
Some of us like wood crafting on a camping trip and there’s one thing that your gloves are required to do when it comes to this: they need to be touch-sensitive. And the Blue Fire gloves can become the perfect work gloves.
So, don’t through away your old leather fire gloves just yet. But think again if you need different pairs for different sort of activities.
Use them indoors as well
I can’t see any reason why they can’t be the perfect oven mitts. They’re not heavy or awkward to use, they provide a good grip, and they are easy to wash or clean.
They’re perfect if you want to handle hot food and I’m sure there are many uses for them in your kitchen.
The gloves are steam resistant but keep in mind that like conventional oven gloves, you’re not protected if you touch boiling liquids. Consider buying some latex heat resistant gloves if that’s what you need them for.
It’s the fabric that makes the difference
For many years, heavy leather was the material of choice for making the best campfire gloves. And for many of us, this is still true.
We all know that cotton and polyester alone don’t put up a great defense against the might of a fire, but if you add the right “ingredients” to them, you end up with something that’s lighter and has nearly the same fire resistance as the heavy leather. You can see I used the word “nearly”. I have to mention this again. The old gloves handled long time exposure to heat a bit better.
So what are these “ingredients”?
- Kevlar – provides cut and fire resistance.
- Aramid fiber – that’s the same material that’s used to make the firefighter’s uniforms.
- Heat resistant Silicon – That’s just for better grip.
These three modern materials are combined with cotton (70%) and polyester (20%).
The one thing that’s annoying about them
Whoever designed this thought that protecting the wrists is essential when dealing with an open fire, and it’s true. But he/she never considered that it’s not a great idea to have a tight fit on the wrist. Why? Well for one reason only. What if you need to take them off quickly? You get my point.
Thankfully, this tight fit doesn’t extend to fingers otherwise I would never recommend them.
FAQ
I bet you have some unique questions about them, so I tried to think ahead and included some in this frequently asked questions section.
Q: Can I use them for welding?
A: The manufacturer says you can, but I advise you to stick to the old leather gloves for this.
Q: How long can you hold them over an open fire before you burn yourself?
A: I haven’t tested them all the way to the burning point but, after 5 seconds, I started to feel them getting warm. After 10 seconds they got quite hot, and I decided to stop.
Q: Will they handle liquid metal?
A: NO! no no no. NO! Really, don’t try that. If that’s why you want to buy them, I suggest you look for professional gloves meant for that purpose.
The takeaway from all this
I miss my old gloves! Yes, the Blue Fire gloves work just fine, and after washing them a couple of times, they are not that tight on my wrist. So yea, there goes the only thing that I thought was bad about them. But when it comes to getting the best campfire gloves you should really ask yourself how will you use them and what will you use them for. Then, you know if they will work for you or not.
If you decided that Fire Blue gloves are the best option for you, remember, the link for a great deal is at the beginning of the article.
Or, if you’ve tried them already, let everybody know what your thoughts are in the comment section below.
Until next time, remember: “Light a campfire and everyone’s a storyteller.” – John Geddes