Welding shirts

I generally weld in an old lighter weight winter jacket. Since I do pretty much all TIG I don't have much for dingleberry issues from welding. I did set a sweatshirt on fire grinding welds once, and I burned a small hole in my knee and pants kneeling on a dingleberry from some heavy plasma cutting.

I try to weld in anything made of dense material. I have a leather welding shirt and I use that one under worse than average circumstances. I have a welding shirt too but usually just put anything that is dense and is nearby.

I like heavy cotton twill shirts , long sleeve . On the burning issue , I smoked a hole in my insulated covvies the other day with the angle grinder . Started gettin' a little warm down there around the boys , I put that one out right quick too I mean !!

"Snag" wrote

Frays will catch fire in a second. I will either have Levis patched or quit wearing them for welding once they have a fray at all. I like the 507 boot cuts that fit right over steel toed Wellington Red Wings.

Catching fire goes something like this .............

welding welding welding ....... is that smoke I smell ............. hey, the twins are getting warm ............ oooooooo that kinda feels good ................... I better stop welding and check this out ....................... oh, shit .................. slap slap slap dance dance dance slap and dance slap and dance slap and dance ............

Frayed cotton is the worst, and any cotton rags will eventually burst into flames after smoking for a long time. Unless, of course, you've been using them for cleaning rags with a little gasoline .......... they light much easier then instead of just smoldering. Poly blends and synthetics melt and will stick to skin.

Steve

Heart surgery pending? Read up and prepare. Learn how to care for a friend. Download the book.

I did some searching on the web and found one can buy clothes with a UPF rating. That is UV Protection Factor. But have never found any such tags on the work clothes I buy at the Salvation Army ( or anywhere else ).

I also found that polyester attenuates the UV more than cotton, but still prefer to wear cotton when welding. I think it is less of a fire hazard. May catch fire easier, but does not melt and stick to the skin. According to what I found on the internet, some dyes that look dark transmit the UV.

Dan

Dan

(...)

That explains why I get away with a long sleeve white cotton dress shirt for TIG welding. It's comfortable and no burns.

--Winston

I mostly use an old Army surplus shirt. It's probably a dress uniform shirt with long sleeves and a collar that buttons up enough to prevent the flash burn under the helmet (when I remember). It wicks sweat away pretty well and has not caught fire in the 10 years that I have been using it. When it is really cold or I am really cranking the amps up, I use a set of leathers.

Almost all of my welding is TIG welding on a bench, so I am pretty easy on clothes.

BobH

In the other silly question thread, there is some mention of welding shirts.

What kind do you like? I will weld in most anything, including a T shirt if it isn't going to last more than thirty seconds, but for most welding, I use

I have a few BB to dime sized white spots from 3rd degree burns gotten while doing an xray weld, and not wanting to blow the weld. Even good shirts won't stop big blobs. Other than that, I have lots of little white spots all over the place, probably more common to welders than the general population.

Steve

Heart surgery pending? Read up and prepare. Learn how to care for a friend. Download the book.

Reply: I use the green welding shirt on hot days and the leathers with a bib apron on cold days. I will weld for a short time in Tee shirt or other dense shirts. But the welding shirt seems to hold up well, and was not very costly, and has nice snaps to make it easy to take on and off. And will snap to the neck for a little better protection. But at times I have welded in shorts and have run red hot steel brazing rod in to the leg. At least it has no germs as it enters. Welding exhaust side pipes for a race car and bracing the pipe with my leg when it slipped and let go.