Nomex coveralls and welding (warning: on-topic metalworking content)

Any regular heavy cloth, like denim, works for me.

Little known safety measure for welders: cover your ears if there is any danger of sparks jumping around close to your head......like overhead torch cutting or welding.

I had a pretty good spark jump right into my ear while cutting once. Fortunately, it didn't progress to the ear drum itself. It just landed in the big divot that funnels into the ear drum......and burned like a m*****f*****.

I swear pretty goodly usually, but I surpassed even my own self on that occasion. That is an extremely sensitive area in there and it HURT BAD.

Eye protection AND ear protection. Dave

Hi Terry Cloth - perhaps you bought coveralls that were actually intended for "arc flash" protection. What did the ewwwbay ad proclaim?

If memory serves, the ad made no specific claims other than that the coveralls were nomex. They weren't sold specifically for welding protection.

-- Best -- Terry

Good reason. Nomex works good on fire and if you happen to get close to heat. It does NOT work good around hot steel slag or weld flux. It just melts through it. Our turnout gear actually has warnings about using it near molten metals and the like. Basically while it works good against flame and will slow down the heat, direct contact with the hot metal will damage the gear.

Might be good UNDER leather, I'd still be wearing my full apron and cape. Sparks and spatter will bounce off leather and it's got a certain amount of insulating ability there, I've got my doubts about Nomex, particularly with no backing. Also, how well does it stand up to grinding sparks? Those have been the cause of more holes in my shirts than anything else.

Stan