I recently testing out two different types of cut-resistant gloves: Level 5 and Level 9. I’ve had a lot of requests for the NoCry Level 5 “uncuttable” gloves, and it’s quite popular on Amazon, but I also wanted to compare those to a Level 9 “chainmail” glove to see how much of a difference there really is.
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Where to Purchase
I paid $11.49 for a pair of NoCry Level 5 gloves and they are currently a #1 Bestseller on Amazon with over 34,000 ratings. For the Schwer Level 9 glove, I paid $48.99 for a single glove. The Schwer is listed as both 304 Stainless Steel and 316L Stainless Steel. I’m not sure which one it is, but it is stainless steel.
The mandoline slicer featured later in this review can be found here.
Claims & Features of the Level 5 Glove
Offers Level 5 cut-resistance
Fabric is 100% food safe
Machine washable
Snug fit. Feels like a second skin.
Good for kitchen, carving, woodworking and more
Four times stronger than leather
Claims & Features of the Level 9 Glove
Offers the highest level of cut protection, made of stainless-steel mesh.
Reversible, ambidextrous design
Doesn’t break and shed metal
Rust-proof, anti-corrosion
Good for kitchen, handling goods, glasswork, handling, and more
Ten times stronger than leather
Uncuttable Glove Review & Comparison
The Level 5 NoCry gloves are not new, and I’ve watched numerous reviews of them. The most popular reviews online were posted by Unbox Therapy and The King of Random, but none of the videos I saw compared two different levels of gloves. Most of the reviews I watched only focused on Level 5 gloves.
When discussing the levels of gloves, I’m referring to ANSI cut resistance levels that range from 1 through 9. These levels are determined by measuring grams of force on a TDM 100 Machine.
I had a few considerations before beginning my tests. First, I decided to hone my knife between each test, as these tests could slightly dull the blade, thus skewing results. Next was how to properly simulate a finger in a glove, which I will go into below. Third was the decision to include a mandoline slicer. I did not see any popular videos testing one of those, so I decided to include one in my review.
The only test I did with my hands in the glove was the initial “swipe” test which just entails a moderate “swipe” of a blade across the palm of the glove. All “uncuttable” glove demonstrations seem to show this, and I’m not sure it’s particularly valuable as a demonstration. After swiping the blade across my palm, I will say that I felt more secure with the chainmail glove than the NoCry, although both performed well.
When testing gloves like this, rather than placing my hand in harm’s way, I wanted to use something “finger-like” instead. Other reviewers have used things like carrots or meat sticks to simulate fingers in the gloves, but I came up with something that I think might be a little bit closer to a real finger. When you cut through a finger, you’re going to go through skin, fat, and bone, so I wanted something that simulated those layers more accurately. I tried a few different things until I came up with… a pencil inside a hot dog.
A hot dog has a thin outer layer above a fatty area, wrapped around a bone and I found that my “pencil hot dogs” were a pretty close representation of the texture and density of a human finger.
Once the sides were trimmed down, my “fingers” were complete, which I inserted into the gloves using a small plastic tube.
Now that my “fingers” were created, it was time to move onto the actual cutting tests.
For my first test, I did a simple cut. I ran my knife quickly over an ungloved simulated finger, and that would have resulted in a pretty severe cut to a real finger.
Next, I ran my knife over the ring finger in the Level 5 glove using a swiping motion. I noticed no damage to the glove or fake finger inside. I tried this a second time and there was still no noticeable damage other than some fraying of the glove.
Moving onto the Level 9, I used the same cutting motion and there was no damage to the glove or finger. I did this a second time and there was still no damage.
I tried more slicing on the ring finger of the Level 5 glove and there was some minor fraying once again. For the Level 9 glove, it felt like penetrating the chainmail with everyday cutting motion like this would be nearly impossible.
Next up was a chopping motion. First was the Level 9’s ring finger and again the chainmail material was completely undamaged. The Level 5 glove held up well, too, although there was once again a small amount of fraying.
I repeated this “chop” test using a carrot so I could use the proper amount of pressure needed to cut through it. When I tried it on an ungloved fake finger, it resulted in the tip of the “finger” nearly being cut off.
Next, it was time to try the same carrot chop test on the Level 5 glove’s thumb, and knife did not penetrate the material.
And, once again, the chainmail glove was completely unfazed by this test.
Next up was the Potato Peeler Test. For this test, I placed a glove’s finger right up against the end of the potato and struck the glove while peeling. Neither glove was penetrated, but once again a tiny amount of fraying was apparent with the Level 5, while the Level 9 glove were unscathed.
When I tried using a box cutter, the Level 5 did result in a small tear, while the Level 9 incurred no discernible damage.
I was curious how a serrated knife would do against these types of gloves, thinking that it might snag, pull, or tear the material. When using a serrated knife against the carrot, I noticed that the Level 5 glove became discolored, but it didn’t really damage it as much as I expected.
Once again, the Level 9 glove had no problem staving off the serrated knife.
I tried some more extreme chopping and managed to cut through the Level 5 gloves into the “skin” of the fake finger. Even that would have been a minor cut, however.
When I tried the same test with the chainmail, the fake finger was damaged, even though the glove was still intact. That damage was from impact, however, not from cutting of the blade.
I have a brand-new Mandoline slicer and wanted to see how these gloves would hold up against that blade, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how well they did. The Level 5 incurred minor fraying while the Level 9 was unscathed. I was more worried about my slicer’s blade than the chainmail gloves.
I tested a pizza cutter and multiple passes over both gloves, and neither glove incurred any significant damage.
Finally, I pulled out a box cutter to show that the Level 5 is not truly uncuttable and I was able to cut a hole in them with moderate effort. The Level 9 glove, however, did not yield to repeated strikes by the blades.
In the end, I think both gloves performed well. In all the tests I performed, I only had one simulated finger on the Level 5 glove that was punctured. For the Level 9 chainmail, the only real damage to my fake fingers was from an impact, not cutting.
My question going into this test was why people seem to choose the Level 5 glove over the Level 9, and I now believe that the Level 9 is simply overkill for regular consumers. It’s also more expensive and more difficult to clean. The Level 5 glove is much lighter and provides more dexterity than the Level 9 Glove does. I can now see why people would go for the Level 5 glove over the Level 9, although, the Level 9 glove is quite impressive.
Be sure to check out my video review below where I test out both of these gloves.
