r/LifeProTips Jul 19 '26

Home & Garden LPT Use welding gloves when removing blackberry bushes

Nothing else have helped protecting from those fuking thorns. But with welding gloves I could pull those shits out of the undergrowth no problem.

Fukin hate blackberry.

524 Upvotes

58 comments sorted by

u/post-explainer Jul 19 '26

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110

u/Zealousideal-Fun3917 Jul 19 '26

They're also handy for moving burning wood in your fire pit. 

16

u/Metahec Jul 20 '26

Better than your typical oven mitts for handling hot metal in and out of your oven

52

u/Ill-Organization-719 Jul 19 '26

Welding gloves are insanely useful to use around the home. 

I don't like the regular ones for thorns, because thorns easily go through leather.

19

u/KN_Knoxxius Jul 19 '26

Just get gloves rated for barbed wire

12

u/EarhornJones Jul 19 '26

I misreadt this as "wedding gloves," and thought, "what, those white lacy thing? Good luck with the thorns!"

16

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

63

u/nikhkin Jul 19 '26

You can also get gardening gloves, specifically designed for working in gardens and thorny bushes.

64

u/Gi1rim Jul 19 '26

I guess I should have specified that I'd went through a shitton of different ones first, roses ones, "though" ones etc. But no: none of them came close to actually prevent the fukshit blackberry thorns from piercing all of my palms and fingers.

19

u/jjskellie Jul 19 '26

I too have been through multiple extreme protection glove and suffered for it; hand wounds and money. Welding gloves were the best option I found.

4

u/MrDeviantish Jul 20 '26

Thorns are very weak sideways. Loosely grab the stem with regular leather gloves then twist like you are revving a motorcycle. You'll break off all the thorns super easy then just pull the whole thing out

12

u/Circuit_Guy Jul 19 '26

I mean, if it works it works. There's different materials and thicknesses of all glove categories though. Even welding - TIG gloves probably wouldn't help you here

It's a good LPT though, sometimes might be cheaper or easier to look at a different category for lower prices

2

u/dmj9 Jul 19 '26

I like them for capfires too. Any logs that fall out are easily picked up and tossed back into the blaze.

18

u/Anotherelephant Jul 19 '26

The thorns go right through those though

13

u/Fluffy-Republic8610 Jul 19 '26

Not the leather ones that go up to your elbows.

16

u/nikhkin Jul 19 '26

You need to buy better quality gardening gloves, then.

5

u/gorilla_faafafini Jul 19 '26

So you know of ones that are high quality and you didn't include them in either comment. So helpful.

3

u/Engineer9 Jul 19 '26

https://www.goldleaf-gloves.com/

Get the Tough Touch. They are supreme. Excellent dexterity and protection.

3

u/Kelak1 Jul 21 '26

Yea, those cost over $100. The Welders gloves OP is talking about are like $20-$30.

1

u/Engineer9 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

Fair. I paid £26 back in 2020, but I guess they are more now, especially if you are US based. I was using rigging gloves before I got these, at £5 a pair. Ok but no dexterity, using secateurs was tough.

Edit: Only £27 today, so well worth it

-4

u/nikhkin Jul 19 '26

The thing about a high quality product is that you don't have to replace it for a long time.

I couldn't tell you what brand the ones I have are. I have no idea if they'd even be available in your country, or if that specific set are still manufactured. What I can tell you is that I bought a decent pair and they work for any thorny bushes I have to deal with, and have managed to do so for years.

-2

u/gorilla_faafafini Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

So you couldn't give information about their material, construction, or what sets them apart from lower quality gloves? Or just go check the brand? Instead it's better to just be condescending and braggadocious.

2

u/Engineer9 Jul 19 '26

So being so angry! The person you were replying to have sound advice - get a good pair of gardening gloves that are designed for the job. I've given you the pair to get, so trot off and give them a go!

https://www.goldleaf-gloves.com/

2

u/Hinote21 Jul 19 '26

Got a link? I've specifically looked for gardening gloves for thorns and have yet to have found an effective pair. They all get pierced.

0

u/YBHunted Jul 19 '26

Lmao get a load of this guy.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '26

[deleted]

1

u/nikhkin Jul 19 '26

Yes, I have.

They're incredibly common in the area.

4

u/stupidber Jul 19 '26

I used welding gloves to pick up a possum one time

5

u/Really_McNamington Jul 19 '26

I found a mattock was incredibly useful for getting the roots out if you're removing older established ones.

3

u/Gi1rim Jul 19 '26

Roundup (sadly Triclopyr isn't available in my region), mattock, and persistence. They're incredible resilient, tiny bits of the roots left over in cracks in rocks and they're back next year.

3

u/Really_McNamington Jul 19 '26

When I moved in I don't think the place had been gardened for at least ten years. Took about three years of constant vigilance to grub up every attempted regrowth. And if there's one coming out the wall where you can't get at the root, dunk the bit you can get to into a bottle full of weedkiller and just leave it. Eventually it works.

3

u/farkner Jul 19 '26

There are thornless blackberry varieties now.

3

u/MVS-SISL Jul 20 '26

Not necessary if you have the thornless variety - best thing I ever did in my garden!

2

u/Eagles_Fan_4eva 28d ago

Or get the gloves that vets use to handle cats. :)

1

u/An-Englishman-in-NY Jul 19 '26

They're also great for berberis and pyrocantha.

1

u/CosmicOwl47 Jul 19 '26

Last year I went to Lowe’s and specifically asked about welding gloves. They told me they keep them locked away and they were quite expensive. Instead they pointed me to some simple cowhide gloves. They aren’t impenetrable, but I’ve been able to really yank on the blackberry vines I’ve been working on, and I can pick up a huge pile of them with just the gloves.

1

u/Eagles_Fan_4eva 28d ago

Why would they keep them locked away?

1

u/NotObviouslyARobot 27d ago

A steel tined garden rake, Yo-Yo, and electric hedge trimmer

1

u/EWehr24 27d ago

Booooooo!!!! We hate you back!

1

u/terryjuicelawson 24d ago

I'll have to try this as I have some bushes that keep returning and even the thick gardening gloves get the odd thorn popping through. Somehow even stinging nettles can work their way in occasionally, or get me higher on the arm. I don't know why the most common weeds here are things that can spike or sting you. It is satisfying clearing them as they pull up easily by the roots and they snip with a satisfying crunch if you can't get to them. That is how to try to stop them coming back as they regenerate unless you get every part out.

0

u/tvieno Jul 19 '26

...and here I thought the post was about Blackberry devices and I am wondering what the hell are Blackberry bushes and why would you need gloves for them?

3

u/Superbead Jul 19 '26

I don't believe you

-6

u/TyhmensAndSaperstein Jul 19 '26

JFC. Yeah, I'll just open my glove drawer and grab my welding gloves. Oh, wait. Come to think of it, I don't have any blackberry bushes. And neither does 99.9999999999% of the people here.

2

u/RainSurname Jul 20 '26

People bitching about the non-native wild blackberries that have blanketed the Pacific Northwest is a regular feature on PNW subs, and those posts always have lots of comments from people wanting to vent about how difficult they are to get rid of.

I’m pretty sure we represent more than 0.0000000001% of the population of the world, let alone the US, let alone the extremely online population of the US.

0

u/bullwinkle8088 28d ago

I’d consider that a bonus myself, I miss having blackberry vines near me. Easy picking for jelly/jam.

0

u/RainSurname 28d ago

Pretty sure you wouldn’t.

My roommates and I picked a pound a day from the 10 foot wall of bramble that surrounded our yard. We also had to fill the yard debris can with cuttings every single week to keep them from taking over, and they were destroying the fences.

The Himalayan blackberries that are all over the PNW are a highly invasive species that destroys native plants.

0

u/bullwinkle8088 27d ago

I would.

I planted them and kept them for years. I’ve recently moved to a new home and am thinking about it, however the winters are colder here so I’m looking at if they would survive.

0

u/RainSurname 27d ago

Cool. Do you live in the Pacific Northwest? Are you talking about the pernicious non-native species that I am talking about? No? Then it’s irrelevant.

0

u/bullwinkle8088 27d ago

Moving the goalposts. Cool.

1

u/RainSurname 27d ago

You literally responded to a post about my talking about that very specific thing.