What they're for!
Protects your fingers from being worn away by the bottom of the pool and from being sliced up by the tiles in addition to protecting your fingers from impacts with the puck and other players' sticks. You cannot play properly without any finger protection. New players always seem to think that they can play fine without a glove. Without a glove on you cannot properly flick the puck, swim with the puck or perform any skills without losing chunks of flesh off your hand or breaking little bones. It is inadvisable to wait until this time to find some proper hand protection.

How to start
Initially new players may have to borrow a glove from someone or, as a temporary measure, wear any available glove - a gardening glove, a woolen glove or even a sock pulled over the fingers will do until you have to play a proper game. Cricket gloves may seem ideal, but are very impractical. The padding is too thick, so it holds your hand and stick off the bottom of the pool so high that the puck will too easily slide underneath your stick, making general play, passing and skills nearly impossible. Still, if it's the best you've got, use it until you get something better.

The real thing
UW-hockey gloves are not commercially made so it is necessary to make your own or get someone else to make one for you. Some people make them on request or sometimes have a small supply that they have made to sell to new players. Silicone gloves The most common type of finger protection used is the silicone coated glove. These are made from gardening or work gloves (with a not too wide, not too close weave) coated with bathroom/window silicone sealant with extra thick silicone layers on the 'front' of the fingers. If you want to make your own, ask an experienced player for advice and look at other peoples gloves. I may print instructions for making a silicone glove later.

Costs

• Glove $2-$4 (per pair, can generally be used on either hand, so it is possible to make two right handed gloves) - gardening, hardware or safety equipment store.
• Silicone Bathroom/Window Sealant $8-$15 per tube, requires mastic-gun. Contains enough for 3-4 gloves.

Latex glove
Another type of glove that has appeared recently is the latex glove. This is again made from a gardening or work type glove except coated in latex. It is a longer process than making a silicone glove but the result is much tidier and said to be more effective for play, although tending to be less thickly padded. It is probably best to wait until you know what you want from your glove before you try making a latex coated glove. The latex is only available in a relatively large tin so it would be best to do as a group effort, making lots of gloves at once.

Fingers
The other popular type of finger protection are the plastic fingers. These are made from PVC tubing cut into sections and heated into shape with neoprene or foam padding glued inside. Insulation tape is often used to form the straps to hold them in place on the hand. They are cheap and, once you get the hang of it, actually quite quick to make although fiddly and often resulting in many a burnt or cut finger during creation. Not advisable until you have been playing for some time and know what you need.

The advantage that plastic fingers have over the glove is reduced drag (if they are made properly) and reduced friction on the pool bottom, allowing faster stick skills. The main disadvantage is that they provide only limited protection, they do not protect the upper hand, plus they take a little longer to put on, break now and then, and are easily lost.

Costs
PVC tubing ~$3 per metre, Para Rubber/Payless Plastics/Mitre10 - enough for 2-3 sets. Foam padding - cut off end of snow-foam mattress or sole of an old running shoe. Cigarette lighter or candle $1 - for heating tubing.