Gloves for epoxy resin and woodworking. What to choose for a carpenter's workshop
A river table, a cutting board with an inlay, a resin tabletop, a lamp with interlaced wood... Each of these projects means several hours in which your hands first come into contact with dust and oil, and then with uncured epoxy resin and hardener. Two phases of work, two completely different hazards, and one pair of gloves that has to cope with both. Below, concretely: what the studies say, where the limit of a disposable glove lies, and why a thin examination glove from the pharmacy is the worst possible choice for this job.
The short answer
For epoxy resin and woodworking, nitrile gloves at a heavier weight are used, never latex and never vinyl. Nitrile is the material with the best resistance among disposable gloves: in a permeation study of epoxy coatings, no permeation of the resin component through disposable nitrile gloves was detected for either of the two formulations tested, whereas latex gloves of comparable thickness behaved significantly differently. The limit is time: with continuous work with hardener and reactive diluents, the glove is changed partway through, not after the pour is finished. Gripzzly gloves meet these conditions and add three things an ordinary glove doesn't have: weight, a diamond gripping texture, and a composition without latex and without thiurams.
Why epoxy is more dangerous than it looks
Epoxy resin doesn't burn, doesn't smell aggressive, and gives no immediate warning signal. The problem is that it works differently: through sensitisation.
In the dermatological literature, allergic contact dermatitis caused by epoxy compounds is described as lesions on the hands, forearms, neck and face, and volatile reactive diluents and hardeners can cause an airborne form. That explains a situation that can be baffling to a carpenter: gloves were on, and eczema appeared anyway, on the eyelids at that.
The mechanism of sensitisation is cumulative. It isn't a single contact that decides, but the sum of contacts, often unnoticed, spread over months. Once sensitisation occurs, it usually covers the whole group of related compounds, not one specific brand of resin. For someone who makes a living creating river tables, that means the end of working with this technology.
Cured resin is safe. The whole problem concerns the liquid phase, mixing, pouring, collecting drips, and the tools that have been in contact with it.
What the studies say about gloves for epoxy
Two things need separating here, because the sources look contradictory, but actually talk about different things. The resin component, BADGE, is a relatively easy opponent for nitrile. In a study of protective garments and gloves for permeation of epoxy coatings, no permeation of BADGE through disposable nitrile gloves was detected for either of the two formulations tested. A thin latex 0.068 mm thick and a thin nitrile 0.073 mm thick were compared, meaning materials of nearly identical thickness, and yet the permeation profiles differed significantly. The authors pointed to nitrile gloves, especially thicker ones, as providing the highest level of protection.
Hardener and reactive diluents are a completely different matter. They are the most volatile and the most sensitising, and it's with them that occupational dermatology textbooks state that rubber gloves give poor protection against epoxy compounds and recommend laminated gloves or thick reusable nitrile gloves.
The third piece of the puzzle is thickness. A review of studies on permeation through gloves cited results for low-viscosity acrylates, meaning compounds with similar characteristics: nitrile gloves 0.01 cm thick resisted permeation for 30 minutes, 0.045 cm for 4 hours, and 0.056 cm for at least 8 hours. The difference between a thin examination glove and a heavier-weight glove isn't a few percent, it's an order of magnitude.
Why a thin examination glove isn't suited to the workshop
The most common scenario in workshops looks like this: a box of the cheapest black gloves from the supermarket, put on for the pour and used to the end.
An examination glove is designed for a procedure lasting minutes, with a thin wall, because feel matters in it, not durability. Pouring a river table is the opposite of that scenario: two to four hours, constant contact with liquid, heavy work carrying the mould, contact with wood edges and with the spatula.
Hence three concrete deficits:
Protection time. At a thickness of around 0.1 mm we're talking tens of minutes, not hours, and that's under laboratory conditions, on a stationary sample.
Mechanical strength. Wood has edges, burrs and splinters, and a pour mould can be heavy. A thin glove tears at the first firmer grip, usually at the least convenient moment, meaning with a palm full of resin.
Grip. Resin is slippery, like oil and wax. A smooth examination glove on such a hand loses adhesion exactly when you're holding a cup with a measured portion or guiding the spatula.
Why Gripzzly for resin and for wood?
The Gripzzly gloves are heavier-weight nitrile gloves with a diamond texture across the whole gripping surface. Each of these features answers one of the problems described above, and that's why they work in a carpenter's workshop better than a standard disposable glove.
Material. Nitrile is the disposable material that did best in permeation studies of epoxy coatings, and at the same time its resistance covers oils, waxes, aliphatic hydrocarbons and alcohols, meaning all the finishing chemistry used on wood. One glove therefore handles the pour, the oiling and the cleaning of tools, instead of three different products in the cabinet.
Weight. With compounds of similar characteristics, the difference between a glove 0.01 cm and 0.045 cm thick is the difference between thirty minutes and four hours of protection. Gripzzly are clearly thicker than an examination glove, which in a two-hour pour translates directly into a dose that won't reach the skin. That same weight gives tear resistance when working with wood, burrs and the mould.
Diamond texture. This is a feature examination gloves don't have by definition, because they're smooth. A dense lattice of diamonds channels liquid away from the contact zone and keeps grip on a hand coated in resin, oil or wax. In practice that means a cup with measured hardener doesn't slip out of the hand, and the spatula is guided more surely.
Composition. Gripzzly are made without latex and without thiurams. When working with a substance that is itself a strong contact allergen, there's no point adding a second allergen from the glove. Latex is out twice over here: because of its proteins and because of its poor resistance to the petroleum-based compounds found in oils and solvents.
Colour. Black looks good in social media material, and in woodworking that's a real argument, because most makers document their work. A lighter variant from the same line makes it easier to spot resin soiling, which helps catch the moment to change.
The second phase of work: oil, wax and stain
A lot is said about resin and almost nothing about finishing, yet finishing takes the most hours in a project and involves the most skin contact.
Hard-drying oils, waxes, water-based and solvent-based stains, varnishes and thinners are mixtures dominated by aliphatic hydrocarbons, alcohols and esters. Nitrile's resistance covers the first two groups, so for oiling and waxing it's the right material. With products containing esters or ketones, meaning some thinners and removers, protection time shortens noticeably, and the same rule applies as with resin: change after soiling, not after finishing the panel.
A separate matter is what the glove doesn't do during finishing. It doesn't prevent oil being rubbed into the epidermis during intensive polishing if it's worn through, and wearing through under pressure during polishing happens quickly. That's another argument for weight, not for the thinnest product available.
A procedure that protects against sensitisation
Gloves go on before opening the hardener container, not after the first soiling.
During continuous work with resin the glove is changed partway through, roughly every ten to twenty minutes of contact, and without exception immediately after the glove gets splashed.
Don't wipe the glove on a rag and carry on working. Spreading resin across the material doesn't remove it, it only increases the contact area.
Don't wash resin off the skin with acetone or alcohol. Solvent increases penetration through the epidermis. Soap and water and, if needed, a product designed for the purpose.
Don't touch a phone, a door handle or your face in glovesthat have had contact with resin. Eczema from epoxy often appears on the eyelids, meaning where the skin is thinnest.
Used gloves, cups and stirrers are cured before disposal or collected in a sealable container. Uncured resin stays active in the bin too.
Gripzzly in makers' hands
The best test of a glove isn't a table but a workshop. Below are two makers who work in Gripzzly every day and whose projects are worth seeing.
@zawisza_wood
Zawisza Wood combines wood with epoxy resin, meaning he works in exactly the scenario we described above: pouring, collecting drips, sanding, finishing. His projects can be viewed on the profile @zawisza_wood.
@drewno_sfera
Drewno Sfera focuses more on wood, on machining, finishing and detail. It's the other side of the same work, in which the glove is responsible mainly for grip, oil and protection from splinters. You'll find his work on the profile @drewno_sfera.
If you work in wood and resin and want to show your project here, get in touch with us!
Frequently asked questions 🔍
Which gloves for epoxy resin?
Nitrile, at a heavier weight, changed during work. Latex is out because of its own allergen and poor resistance to petroleum-based compounds, vinyl because of the high failure rate of the barrier during use.
Are nitrile gloves enough for a river table?
For a typical workshop project yes, provided gloves are changed during the pour. For continuous work with large quantities of hardener and when immersing the hands, a reusable glove of much greater thickness is needed.
Can you see through the glove that resin has got through?
No. Permeation happens at the molecular level and the glove looks normal. The first sign is usually itching or redness, a symptom that appears after the fact.
Are gloves needed for wood alone, without resin?
Not for machine work, because a glove near rotating tools is a hazard, not protection. For oiling, staining, gluing, hand sanding and assembly, they're very much recommended.
Can gloves be washed and reused?
Not disposable ones. A material that has let resin through has it within its structure, and washing removes soiling from the surface, not from inside the polymer.
Sources
Evaluation of disposable protective garments against epoxy resin permeation and penetration from anti-corrosion coatings, Annals of Work Exposures and Health, 2023: doi.org
Epoxy Resins, in: Contact Dermatitis, Springer (inhalation form of allergic contact dermatitis, protectiveness of rubber gloves, recommendation of laminated gloves or thick nitrile): link.springer.com
Phalen R.N. et al., Glove permeation of chemicals: the state of the art of current practice, Part 2, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, accessed via PubMed Central (effect of nitrile thickness on protection time): pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Henriks-Eckerman M.L. et al., Testing Penetration of Epoxy Resin and Diamine Hardeners through Protective Glove and Clothing Materials, 2015: researchgate.net
Regulation (EU) 2016/425 of the European Parliament and of the Council on personal protective equipment
Standards cited in the text: EN ISO 374-1 (chemical resistance), EN 16523-1 (breakthrough time), EN ISO 374-4 (degradation), ISO 21420 (general requirements)
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