I used to hate wearing gloves...couldn't move my fingers well enough in them, couldn't grab things or hold anything just the way I wanted to. I had been using cheap gloves.... Decided to splurge, spent $20 on a pair of nice welding gloves instead of the cheap-o Harbor Freight ones, and it made all the difference. I don't cut, grind, or weld without them (and a full face shield, or welding helmet) on anymore.
I like deerskin TIG welding gloves with cuffs...they give good protection but still give you the ability to feel..operate clamps etc...give em a try, you wont use anything else.
the uv kicking off an arc made from electricity is gnarly and can seriously mess you up!!!! buy higher quality gloves if you dont like what you have seen so far....
Tried that, stupid, stupid idea. I now have an auto-dimming helmet. Makes tacking things a lot easier I weld very infrequently still skin cancer does not sound like fun. Might be time to find some high quality gloves. You must be one pasty dude. While I'm not going to say it was smart I've welded lots of times in flip flops, shorts and a t shirt. Never got burnt once (thank you Hawaiian genetics ) however I've burnt my face pretty good a couple of times. No more helmetless welding for me. I weld mostly sheetmetal with an ARC welder. The stinger rarely gets hot since I'm usually welding at less than 40 amps. Also I have a high pain tolerance and very slow reaction time to heat. I can hear my skin sizzle before I actually feel pain
Leather gloves in general are a good idea. Mechanix gloves won't stop much... I weld without soemtimes. But I also smoke, drink, ride bicycles like a stunt man, drive old cars and walk down stairs. Sure they are all unsafe. It depends on how long you want to live. How many old timers did it without protection? How many Women tan every week? Howmany people live in the sunny areas?
I never figured on living as long as I have. It's funny how a little age can make you look at thing differently. I still catch myself taking dumbass short cuts but I try to think about the future now. Yeah, I used to weld some without the proper protection and now I got some spots that worry me. Take care of yourself and do it right.
I can see needing full protection while stick or high production mig welding, but.... Welding will give you cancer! Have I heard it all now?
Seriously. People don't wear haz-mat suits when they clean out rat/mouse shit in old cars. That can kill you in a week.
After you get enough nerve damage on your hands, you really don't need gloves anymore! Welding in nylon socks is a poor idea as well, for all the reasons you would expect.
I never use a glove on my trigger hand and a big fat glove on the other. never noticed any sunburn on my hand, I did get a sunburn on my neck once.. I don't think a glove would have helped. interesting thread. I've had spots burned off my face, back, arms and shoulders at the doctor over the last 20 years. guess next time I'll have them take a look at my hands too.
Since this is a glove thread.............yes, wear gloves. When your gloves have the stitches rip out of them and you are getting hot ones rolling in..... use super glue on the seams. You can extend the life of your gloves a long, long time. I usually glue mine before the stitches get bad and the only thing that ruins them is when they get full of die grinder shards. Yea, I know it is simple but maybe some of you had not thought of it.
3 pairs and I wear them all the time (except for work and fancy gatherings). 1 pair for garage work only....don't want to mess up the house with grease.
I was watching one of those saturday morning speed channel shows ... you know where the young man (host) has a shop with every high-end tool known to man? .. ... so he is tacking on patch panels wearing no hood. every time he tacks he turns his head to the side .... a shop full of pricey equipment and didnt have a hood I guess, little does he know! LOL
Get a 6011 rod cooking at 140 amps on an up-weld, that'll make a glove convert out of you but quick. Bob
What a dipshit... all the tools in the world and no brains. I credit flash burns for my shitty night vision on a rainy night. Bob
When I first started tig welding I could not run the rod out with gloves The hair would burn off my fingers it didn't take long before I started to see little dark spots on my hand. I now use thin mig gloves they last longer the the tig gloves. After 2 months they are junk they shrink up and will not fit and get very thin. 11 years later I would not want to know how my hands would have looked. I only weld part time at night and last year I burned over 70 lbs of tig rod.
I use UNION PACIFIC safety issued leather gloves when welding, even with TIG, I have good feel of rod and torch.
I weld without gloves all the time. I rarely ever burn my hands. It's not like I would recommend that you don't wear gloves, but lots of times I don't.
Well crap, I must be a real wimp. I won't turn on the welder without gloves on. I have been known to do a few tacks without the helmet, but anything more then a few tacks I put on the helmet as well. I always have selves, be they on the leather welding jacket, a sweatshirt, or the cotton welding selves. I have a lot of old sweatshirts with holes burned in them just above the glove cuff. I don't like the feel or small of me burning. For those of you that have screwed up gloves so you weld without them, I have a question for you. If there was enough heat to ruin the gloves, what do you think its doing to your hands? Gene
On the lines of welding, Here is something a lot of you have probably never thought about. Back flash into your welding helmet from another welder or reflection off something. Another guy and myself were in a 657 scraper welding in a new floor, and he was about 3 feet behind me all night welding the other side. later that night i got the ol sand in the eyes deal and could not figure it out, then it hit me, his flash from the back. sure enough the next day the back of my neck and face had a nice sunburn!! Now i always put up a welding blanket to separate between welders. I have waisted a new set of gloves in one night before from the heat we sometimes use, dried out the last two fingers to the point almost did not get the gloves off!!
Rodhotz, Been there done that, when I was welding full time I tried to avoid that situation. I've burned a lot of rod on TBYS ( the big yellow stuff). Lee
Been doing it since the '60s. Depends on what I am doing of course. I don't have any strange bumps or moles growing on my hands. But I cannot in good conscience recommend it to the younger generaton. I guess it is all about your physical makeup and what you are prone to as far as the UV light effecting your skin. All that said you will not find me on the HAMB whining about it if I do get sick. I am a firm believer in sleeping in the same bed that you make.
Finally someone that is not scared of speakin his mind. Looks like we live in "what if"" country. I like the way youre thinkin. i totally agree. I had burns everywhere because of the mig, most because my garage doesnt have A/C, and in the summer it can get pretty damned hot, welding or whatever else, and wearing anything more than a t.shrt, or anything at all, at times is a torture! i always wear eye protection, mean always, and wear gloves when cuttin shit as im scared of losing a finger or a whole hand, since i almost cut me a finger off once. Never ever burned my hands thou. 90% of the times my trigger hand is gloveless. Might have to do w/ the fact that my skin is as callous as it can get or than my blood circulation in my hands is fucked up, i dunno. like they alerady said, i wouldnt recommend it, but i wouldnt recommend most of the shit i do.
I have sensory problems in my hands and lower legs. Not from welding without gloves, I have been this way all my life. I have to remind myself that everything in the shop is hot, all the time. I have been known to pick up hot things and not notice until I smell it. I have a pretty cool burn scar on my forearm (over the top of the other scars) from when I was building sephgato's zoomies a couple of years back. I had just welded the tubes to the flanges and was inspecting my welds. I had the flange lieing against my arm and didn't notice until it stunk. Well those are the kicks I guess . . .
It must depend on what you are welding with, i do tig and rarely wear gloves - i'll stick a tig glove on my right hand because of heat only, with sheet metal you don't need them. I have never, ever gotten burned from uv exposure. Now the arms are different, i wear sleeves if i am in a tee shirt and will use a bandana for my throat as these areas will get uv burns. But the hands? it just don't happen for whatever reason.
The Jalopy Journal
