Sno Seal on leather gloves (kimco)

Got this tip before an alpine trip next week, never heard of it for gloves but why not right?  Any tips or past experience to make it done right?  Just follow manufacturer's instructions?  I don't care about looks/form, only function.  

Can I do this to the (leather) palms of my Hestra mitts too?

I warm the gloves up in the oven first.  The sno seal then melts in like butter.  Make sure to get all the seams good.  I have finger kinco gloves and mits for splitboarding trips and love them!

People have been putting Sno Seal on gloves, boots, etc. for a long time. As said above warming the leather first helps with opening the pours in the leather. 

Historical note : Sno Seal was invented by Ome Daiber who did among other first ascents Liberty Ridge.

http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199033900/Ome-Daiber-1907-1989

I've done this to my Kinco Gloves for skiing. Worked amazingly well. The cuffs of the gloves did get slightly wet but they aren't leather but the sno sneal that was used on it still helped a bit.

I followed these steps: Mountain Journey

Just make sure to do multiple layers of sno sneal, warming, and reapplying everywhere on the leather.

Do many layers. Heat them each time. There are tons of videos showing how online.

Just know that they don't breathe so if you're exerting yourself with the gloves on, your hands and gloves will get wet from the inside. That's why most folks who use sno seal on kinco gloves are resort skiers. Not much exertion and you have lots of breaks (lifts) to cool off. 

drew A wrote:

Do many layers. Heat them each time. There are tons of videos showing how online.

Just know that they don't breathe so if you're exerting yourself with the gloves on, your hands and gloves will get wet from the inside. That's why most folks who use sno seal on kinco gloves are resort skiers. Not much exertion and you have lots of breaks (lifts) to cool off. 

Hm, good to know.  The original intent was for my belay gloves but that's good to know.  Thanks all!

It's a classic among snowboarders.

Just FYI I sno sealed a pair of belay gloves and ended up not really liking the results - it made the palms slicker and gripping ropes was harder. It’s not a total deal breaker, depending on your actual need for water proofing, but something to keep in mind. Maybe you could wax the outer sides and keep the palms unwaxed?

I do nikwax Kinco gloves as my ski gloves, and have done some belaying while ice climbing in them, and didn’t notice the slick palms quite as much, but maybe that’s because the wax had worn off a bit.

Anyway, just some thoughts I’ve had from personal experience. Hope you get yours to work for you!

drew A wrote:

Do many layers. Heat them each time. There are tons of videos showing how online.

Just know that they don't breathe so if you're exerting yourself with the gloves on, your hands and gloves will get wet from the inside. That's why most folks who use sno seal on kinco gloves are resort skiers. Not much exertion and you have lots of breaks (lifts) to cool off. 

I have worn my SnoSeal’ed Kincos for some uphill skiing, plus a 5000’ winter summit day, and I never noticed any wetness inside. It probably helps to manage insulation just like you would with any other apparel - I only wear enough to keep my hands warm when I’m moving, which for the Kincos is usually just the gloves or maybe a thin liner. Carry a pair of puffy mitts to put on if you end up stopping and/or getting cold. 

Do it. Your hestra's probably came with some sort of fancy sno-seal (maybe made from seal blubber? something's gotta be driving that price up). Kinco axemen for resort/the way down backcountry skiing. Unlined deerskin work gloves (also coated) for the way up/rope work with the skis on. I'm sure having a third pair of insulated kinco gloves (snowsealed as well) would be great to have in the pack for backcountry skiing in colder places would be great, as well.

All 3 plus a can of snoseal will still be cheaper than a pair of hestra's, and I usually get 3-4 winters of heavy use out of 'em. Plus, you'll have enough cash left over to justify ordering a pizza for the evening you spend commandeering the oven to cook your mittens. 

Are you in North America?  That is a very warm, not-very-dexterous glove for this time of year for most locations.  Maybe reasonable for Mt Rainier on a cloudy / breezy day above 12k.  

Didn't think this thread would go so far down the rabbit hole...

So the original intent is for unlined, leather belay gloves.  Gonna be up in the alpine and while there's no real snow right now even at 13k, there's still some snowfields and always afternoon thunderstorms.  My partner suggested gloves that can shrug off some water will be an extra comfort; leather gloves (we all know this) once wet take forever to dry.  This is where the snoseal idea was tossed around.

I actually mis-spoke on the OP, I said kimco (i have lined deerskin ones) but I meant petzl for my belay gloves; doesn't matter they're just leather gloves.  

I am in NA.  My Hestras are from 2012...I'm happy with the cost per use (and yea they were mostly for resort skiing duty or summit gloves for cold mountaineering things like Mt Rainier and Mt Washington in NH).  Actually I often will wear the shells (they're lobster mitts) over cheap/nameless fleece/polyester gloves to get a little more coverage/protection as part of my systems.  The leather palms are getting a little cut up from ski edges and seems to be the weak point.  I wasn't planning on taking them this trip, it was just a tacked on question.

Counter opinion:

I personally wouldn't treat unlined leather gloves with SnoSeal or any other treatment for that matter. I wear leather gloves a lot, including for hiking duty. The reason I like leather gloves is that they breathe but also trap some moisture inside, keeping my hands from drying out and cracking. Sweating inside of treated leather gloves sounds slimy to me and they would trap even more sweat.

If you need some warm and toasty gloves for hiking across a snowfield maybe take a light pair of pile or other synthetic gloves but really, do you intend to drive your hands into the snow or something? As for afternoon thunderstorms, why worry about the gloves? Wet hands aren't going to kill you and if you've been hiking in them for any length of time they are going to be wet from your sweat no matter what, treated or not.

Lastly, I gave up on over-priced purpose-built belay gloves. They are too tight for me. Not when they are new, but after going through a few sweat-soak > dry-out cycles the leather contracts to the point you have to stretch them just to get them on. Once leather gets salt from sweat ingrained in the leather things like stretching them will dramatically reduce their lifecycle. Instead I buy ordinary leather gloves at Costo, in 3-pair for $25.00  Now that's a bargain. You can't pick up a dime with them but they work just fine for belay duty and if sized a bit large are easy to get on off, which is not the case with those coolio tight leather belay glove rigs.

So, one vote no for snow seal on unlined leather gloves.

Arthur W wrote:

Hm, good to know.  The original intent was for my belay gloves but that's good to know.  Thanks all!

Most of lift operators I know and seen use Kinco, they do heavy duty work. The key for them is to have multiple pairs and keep swapping.

For pure belay duty, you should SnoSeal since your rope will most likely be wet. While Kinco gloves stay warm even when wet, wet hands suck. Once Kinco gets wet, they take a long time to dry naturally if at all if temp is not high enough or no airflow.

I don't know why people apply multiple layers of SnoSeal at the same time, you should apply it only if it start to wet quickly. If you apply multiple layers of SnoSeal, the gloves will NOT breath in my experience. I do one application of it, use them for a few outings. If I wash my gloves, I would reapply SnoSeal.