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Monday, January 22, 2007

Curious About the 'Ove' Glove? Me Too.

I thought I had graduated from mittens when I finished second grade. Although I understand that mittens are more appropriate than gloves if your main goal is warmth, I hold dexterity in higher regard that comfort. So I was quite distressed that for handling hot items in the kitchen--a situation in which dexterity is particularly desirable--, the mitten was the only heat abatement device available.

Then the 'Ove' Glove showed up, and the following transpired:
  1. I thought, "it's about time."
  2. I thought, "what an unfortunately irritating name."
  3. I thought, "I want one"
  4. I found out that it sells for $14.
  5. I thought, "ouch."
  6. I waited. (This is what I do when I want something and it costs too much. I may have no reason to believe that the price will go down, but if I wait long enough, I wear myself down. In this case, I waited about a year--maybe longer.)
  7. The second-generation 'Ove' Glove was born. It now has silicone grips.
  8. I bought one.

The 'Ove' Glove has two benefits over an oven mitt: 1) it's a glove, 2) it has high heat resistance since it's made out of Kevlar and Nomex by Dupont. Yes, they sound like a couple of Norsemen, but I assure you that the 'Ove' Glove is not made from burly Scandinavians.

The 'Ove' Glove does deliver, in that it allows excellent control while providing good protection against heat. I'm a cheapskate, and I still believe it's worth $14. However, I hope somebody makes a cheap knockoff.

Everything was going fine, but I felt I had to give this new item a more scientific test. So I turned on a burner on my electric stove, to the Medium setting. I allowed plenty of time for it to heat up. I held my outstretched hand about an inch above the burner for as long as I could stand it. I made it about 4 seconds.

Then I put the 'Ove' Glove on and tried the same thing. Things were going pretty well for a while. I couldn't feel much heat until about 15 seconds. Even at 30 seconds, I was quite comfortable. But around that 30-second mark, I saw smoke. That development was quite intriguing, and at this point, I decided that the test was concluded. From what I can tell, the silicone grips seem to have begun melting--just a little bit. Do with that information what you will. My guess is that if you refrain from senseless experiments, you'll be fine.

2 comments:

Brian Arnold said...

Back in late 2005, I made joking comments about how much I really wanted an Ove Glove. I mean, I really did want one, but not really all that much.

For Christmas, I was given not one, but two. I have a pair of Ove Gloves, and they're great. They're the first-gen ones without the grips, but they still work really well. I don't use potholders anymore, and it's nice to change a light bulb without having to wait for it to cool off. Plus, having a pair is really nice, since I can protect both hands, and easily carry very large hot things, like pots, without fear.

MadMup said...

These sound like the perfect things for me to remove things from the microwave with.