Protecting Your Hands with the Best Welding Gloves
The welding trade can be a rewarding and profitable career, but it carries its risks.
While you can make a good salary, it’s important to protect the most important tools of the trade: your hands, wrists, and arms. The best welding gloves will protect fingers, hands, wrist, arms, and the skin of your body.
Welding injuries are extremely serious. Not only are burns painful, but they can look unsightly. There is also the potential for income loss while you recuperate. Surprisingly, in the early days of welding trades, men wore no protection at all.
Now stringent regulations require all workers to wear protective equipment from the moment they step foot in the work shop.
The welding career can encompass a variety of different service and product industries. The welder can fix and repair vehicles, plumbing, duct work, and even make products inside a factory.
It’s a versatile career that never grows dull. Fixing and creating objects with the aid of blowtorch and soldering iron can make you feel like you’re accomplishing something. It’s no surprise that this is a popular trade, and women are even entering this exciting trade.
Part of the tools required for welding are heat resistant gloves. You don’t want to don any type of glove. Special welding gloves are heat-resistant. These means that if the heat from the blow torch accidentally comes into contact with your hands, that the gloves resist the heat, so that your hands don’t burn.
These types of gloves can vary in look and style. Special woven gloves can allow your hands and fingers to remain flexible. There are also thicker goat leather gloves to provide more protection.
When purchasing your gloves you’ll want to choose sizing, rather than a one-size-fits all solution. Common sizing in mens’ sizes is usually 8, 9, 10, or 11. You may also wish to check the temperature of heat resistance. For your purposes 200C may suit, while in other industries you may need up to 350C.
Welding gauntlets are similar to gloves, but they cover the wrist and much of the lower arm. They stop before the elbow. Some welding gauntlets are ambidextrous, so it doesn’t matter which hand they go on.
This can be beneficial in the busy work shop when you may need protection in an instant. There’s no need to fumble while you discern left or right glove.
If you’re not certain which brand to choose, Tig welding gloves are affordable, and protect your lower arm to about midway.
These gloves are light grey, so you can easily see burns and faults. They are made from a soft goat skin to keep hands and fingers comfortable. The leather is designed to have a split at the wrist, enabling for easier movement.
When choosing your gloves you’ll want to make your choice based on temperature risk, size, comfort level, and flexibility. If one pair of gloves doesn’t work out, you can try another brand. They’re affordable enough to replace when they get worn out, or damaged too.
