I have a ton of thistle this year to clear from my "yard" in the northern California hills. The thorns go right through my (relatively thin) leather work gloves. I thought these would be better, but they are not. Maybe these gloves would work with shorter, duller thorns, but the long thin thorns of a thistle go through them like they were made of paper. Plus, the gloves don't feel or look very well made. And, if you're doing any really heavy duty yard clearing, you'll want gloves with a velcro wrist strap to keep things from getting to your hands through the open end of the glove. These gloves don't have that. Overall, a complete waste of money.