Been there. Unless you've experienced that sizzle (and smelled burning ear hair) you won't get the full effect by reading about it. And yes, I've done the dance many times from mig beebees in the tennis shoe.
I was tired of carrying around my dirty old welding jacket, so I picked up a couple of those welding sleeves. I also bought quite possibly one of the best aprons by a company called Knife&Flag. Made in the USA and all hand made. I have beat the hell out of it and it keeps taking it. I wear it everyday, not a torn thread or a busted buckle. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
If you wear a welding hat, the bill of the hat is designed to protect your ear. If you are right handed the bill goes on your left ear and vise versa for the other hand. Burning of the ear is bad news if it gets to the drum. Most of your probably knew that but I thought I would share for the ones that don't. Sent from my STV100-3 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
As a Boilermaker, I used to spend a lot of my time up in the air welding overhead seams on water towers. Summers I would wear Levi jeans and blue denim Wrangler shirts because they were heavy cotton. Wore leathers too but there was always a few bb's or hot slag getting through. Faultless brand spray starch applied to the front of jeans and sleeves and front of shirts kept the bb's from burning through. Always wore Carhartts when the weather got cooler and starched them. Decided to spend big money for insulated Carhartts when the temp got down into the teens and below. Big Mistake. Sitting there, 130 feet in the air, and I smell something burning. By the time I found out where I was on fire, the nylon insulation had melted into my jeans and attached itself to the skin on my leg. There's only one way to put out a fire in that situation. Good thing I had a dry pair of Levis in my truck.
The Jalopy Journal
