Thank you, Alan. This is important stuff to remember. Glove material selection is very important and what is generally marketed as chemical resistant doesn't do anything like what people think.
First, my street cred: I worked doing environmental field work for 20 years. I was our 40 OSHA Hazmat safety trainer.
Now some facts and thoughts. Health and safety are two different words and two different concerns. Health is about not dying in the future; wearing protective gear so you don't get sick, either short term (catching the lateset bug down at the sewage treatment plant) or long term (cancer, aplastic anemia, etc from chemical exposure). Safety is about not dying today; whether that's from a lethal chemical exposure, a lack of oxygen, or getting flattened by a backhoe. Gloves are primarily health protections. We are unlikely to die from today's immediate exposure, but we don't want to shuffle off our mortal coil befor our time from that exposure either.
For grease, oil, and paint/bodywork (stuff with isocyanates and the like) a thin nitril glove works fine. However; all the common powerful solvents, acetone, 1,1,1TCE and things found in carb cleaner, brake cleaner, electrical contact cleaner, etc. are highly volitile. Pretty much all of them go right through nitrile gloves like they weren't there. Because of their physical properties you don't really feel it; your hands feel dry. To chose gloves well you've got to do some research. Here's a process you can use once you've gotten hold of the material safety data sheets (MSDS) for your chemical of choice:
1. What chemical(s)
2. What concentrations
3. What temperatures
4. Frequency and duration of contact
5. Type of exposure (immersion, contact, ?)
6. Area protected (hands only, forearms, ?)
7. Required dexterity
You can find useful guides in Grainger's catalog, at OSHA, etc.
Genrally speaking a mid thickness butyl glove will be reusable and give you better protection from volitile solvents and gasoline (MTBE waltzes right through nitrile, too, if I recall correctly). They will definitely hinder your ability to play Rachmaninoff. But if you've chosen wisely you may live enough decades to get good at playing him.
Stay safe out there!
