The one thing I have learned in my short 6 years of full time welding work is this. They don't make jack for welders when it comes to cold weather gear that will actually hold up. Carhart jacket...useless, Carhart bibs, useless. Zipper on the side of the bids blew out on one of the coldest days hanging from the tower(with the snow). Had a nice pocket for air to flow into while dangling. Front zipper on the bibs blew out(huh???) as well. Burned thru the bids in several places on the legs, jacket is trashed and even had the interesting experience of catching on fire around 200 feet. How do you handle catching on fire at 200 feet a friend asked. Well, you flip your hood up, cuss a little bit, shake your head and patiently pat it out with your winter work gloves you bought at walmart because nobody in the industry has thought to make insulated welding gloves? At least I have not found any and using Tilman or any other brand of welding glove while climbing a tower like a spider monkey and you might as well just dive off and save yourself the surprise!! I don't need 20 MIL welding gloves while working in the winter, I've done it long enough to know I don't need to pick up hot stuff and if I do they still make pliers. How about a full length welding glove with some gortex, 3M something and some dexterity so I can still feel what I'm doing, whether I'm climbing a 275 foot tower or welding on the ground. Whats with the welding gloves that are stiffer than a room full of guys at the local strip joint??

One guy said "I've got a $200 set of gortex bibs, nice and warm....but probably not so good for welding". A hardhat and hood rig....what a joke. Two safety's, two positioning lanyards, grinder hanging off the right hip, chipping hammer on the same hip, leather rod pouch, tape measure, cresent wrench all with "beaners" and rope, then a welding hood with a strap so it does not plunge 200 feet and then throw in the cumbersome hardhat rig and then climb in and out of spaces barely big enough for a person?

FR rated shirts should be tagged FU rated shirts, freakin useless. Sure would be good to have if my transformer explodes or the refinery blows and it don't melt the shirt to my body but other than that good for wiping your behind with. Positioning lanyards? Well, you can pick from the 18" chain or the 27" chain. Both work well at higher elevations where the steel is smaller and the rebar hook will actually fit around it. But then the issue is positioning and where you can connect said hook in order to weld AND not burn up your flammable clothing or launch sparks and slag down into your sleeve where it melts your thermals to your arm because they don't have insulated welding gloves that actually leave you with some dexterity so you can climb and not drop off the side like a sack of beans.

They do make a kevlar/nomex positioning lanyard and combined with a 27" chain lanyard you can "Git-R-Done" but adjusting the kevlar/nomex lanyard while hanging on with one hand is an issue all of it's own. At times you can tie on with the chain lanyard, adjust the other and get into position but there were several times up there where between the two I was still saying, "hmmm???". Sit back and figure it out, make it happen.

All I have to say is the welding industry needs to come up with some innovation, better ideas on hard hat rigs instead of the same ol' tired freakin' designs from years gone by. Winter work gear, laughable.

My rant...... If I only had a million or two laying around I'd turn the industry on it's ear with a new hood/hardhat rig, gloves, gear...anybody have a million or two they could loan me???? Looks like I need to go out and buy some new cold weather kindling before the next job!! LOL!!!