Cut resistant gloves

What matters here

The cut protection class appears as a letter A to F in the fifth position of the EN 388 code. It comes from the TDM test, where a blade is drawn across the material with increasing force. A means at least 2 newtons, F at least 30. The steps are not evenly spaced: from E to F the value doubles.

The higher class is not automatically the better choice. More cut resistance means denser or thicker material and therefore less tactile feel. Someone who can no longer pick up a screw will eventually take the glove off, and then the highest class protects nothing at all.

Cut resistance and puncture resistance are two different things. Puncture resistance sits in the fourth position of the EN 388 code and is tested with a standardised probe. It says little about needles and fine points, which have tests of their own.

An X in the code does not mean the glove failed that discipline, it means the discipline was not tested. On cut resistant gloves the X often sits where the coupe test would be, because cut resistant material blunts the blade and the test then yields no valid result.

More on this: what the EN 388 digits mean and which glove suits which job.