MF: I worked in industrial construction for some years, including outdoors in the winter. These cheapo metallic thread knit liner gloves are what I used for fine dexterity operations – I was an electrician so I had to be able to install wire nuts, thread small wires into panel slots and remove small nuts and screws, also needed to protect my hands from sticking to freezing metal conduit and fittings in the heavier work. I have also used these when road biking, motorcycling, XC skiing and for mountaineering under my insulating gloves or mitts so I could adjust ski or crampon bindings, tie into a harness or use a camera without exposing skin. I also had fingerless ragg wool gloves, which I often wore under shell mittens with a fold down back so I could expose the fingertips only for camera or fine work on winter outings
They do insulate a little (I had the liner sox of the same material that added a bit more warmth to regular wool sox) but their best assets are they protect from windchill and they have a slightly grainy texture, like softer grades of sandpaper, on the outer surface so they provide good grip. The inner surface of the knit is not uncomfortable on the skin. I used to buy them in bulk packs of 10 and would wear through a pair in a week or two on the job from the abrasion 8 to 10 hours per day. But when used for winter recreation they held up well.
Dachstein makes a mitten with the fold back flap, too. I had a pair of Ragg wool mitts like that that I wore for winter backpacking, with the silver liner or polypropolene liners underneath. (BTW, I stopped using anything polypro years ago after having hot shards drop from a Unibit I was using to drill a hole above my head in a thick steel switchgear enclosure and they melted through the sleeve of my polypro longjohn shirt which burned me and stuck the melted plastic to my skin. The British Navy found out about this too when sailors whose ship was hit during the Falklands “war” had their service issued hi-tech skivvies also melt onto their skin when hit by burning debris.) I think you can still get silk liners. I had some of them but they are slippery – prefer the cheap silver liners. I still carry a pair in my day pack and in the spare tire well of my car.
Harder to find in bulk packs now (they run about $3 or $4 a pair that way if you can find them) since there are a lot of other similar but thicker reflective material gloves out there that clog the web searches. But these are the style:
