I thought that I had done very well, securing freebie and cheap leather gauntlets at the start of my beekeeping adventures. It was probably only a month or two later (and the sufferance of a sting here and there, finding that they weren't really that bad) that I gave up on bee crunching manipulations. I find that they're just too thick and unforgiving (gloves, not bees).
Softly, softly is the order of the day, the bees are remarkably tolerant of slow and steady actions but conversely get agitated quite quicky when I'm hasty or clumsy. I have conditioned myself now not to flinch when they alight on my wrists or other inadvertently exposed bits (ooerrr). They are generally only being inquisitive. In fact I find it 'good therapy' these days to encourage the bees onto my thinly gloved hand just to watch 'em up close! The are indeed fascinating creatures.
I use thin nitrile gloves (boxes of 100 are cheap). If the bees are really tetchy, I double up and it is only if they are determined to give me a bad time that I resort to the heavy leather (and then usually only to close them down - I generally get the message).
What talk of vinegar? I can't understand using stuff to 'repel' them! Why wind them up before you've even started?
