I just started my first welding job. It is a great job welding 3" and 6" pipe. I purchased 3 carhart like welding shirts (I think they are made by Rosco) they were about 28 bucks a piece... After 2 short weeks, they are in bad, bad shape. There is only one other welder on the job.. and lets just say he isn't much help. What does the average joe shmo stick welder do for shirts? What kind do you buy and where do you buy them? I can't see buying a new round of shirts every month or so!! Is this just a welding reality that I need to accept, or am I missing something here? I think most of the damage is happening when welding angle irons for the pipe hangers. we have to use a 6010 root because the metal we are welding to is painted... and they won't let me grind the little spot I attach it to. I live in Florida, so a full leather welding shirt is not going to happen... Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Another option besides leather is one of these green welding jackets, they dont last forever either, mine last about 4 weeks, but I put mine on it dont come off til the end of the day. I wear them for everything, workin on the truck welding burning you name it if Im working Im like a lime colored whatever Im doing. They cost 20 bucks where I get them, the only time I wear a leather jacket is when Im outside and it's real cold like today, or if I am laying direcly under what Im welding. As for shirts and pants welcome to welding it goes with the territory. J Krout
You might want to try a cape and sleeves, just the shoulders and sleeves made of leather. you can add a bib in front. Makes things last a lot longer- cool enough so you last longer also.
Pay attention to those warm feelings you may be on fire.
Bill
hey mike,
the green coats jay was talking about also come with leather sleeves, thats what i use. you will get a year out of them. they are about 35 bucks. also come in blue and both are fire retardent.
rich
Welding has never been considerate of clothing. About the best way to keep cotton clothing from rapidly burning up is to have it startched very stiff. This is not going to stop the fire, but it does slightly slow it. Not only that, but you will be one of the sharpest dressed weldors on the job.
Cotton cloth, such as shirts and pants, can be soaked in a borax solution. Notice I said soaked not washed. Washing in a machine will rinse the borax out. Soaking puts it in the material. Don't use any type of soap just use plain borax Twenty Mule Team stuff. After soaking put the shirt/pants on the clothes line to drip dry. This same borax is used as welding flux on brazing rods. It's also used by blacksmiths as a forge flux. One of the reasons is because it doesn't burn off.
Sew a large button on the shoulder of your new shirts. Right where the seams connect. Purchase one leather sleeve. Put the shirt on and then put on the sleeve. The leather sleeve should overlap the button. Cut a button hole in the leather sleeve so that the sleeve can be buttoned to the shirt. If you are right handed the sleeve should be on the left arm. I wore one of these on a Carhart coat for years.
One other thought--the more often you wash clothing the more it breaks down the cloth, making it easier to catch fire. I wore crummy old coveralls out in the strip mines for months and never washed them they lasted longer than the ones my woman insisted on washing. Nobody is going to take a wif to se what aftershave or deodorant you are using anyway. : ) J Krout
100% Cotton and lots of starch. The old Levi shirts with snaps outlasted any thing I ever used.
MC, wear the leather bibs and just get used to the heat. There will come a point where you will get tired of the burns. A good set of bibs won't require alot of clothes underneath and they will stop almost all sparks. The first time you are welding pipe and some E7018 slag drops onto your shirt, burns through and ends up in your shorts you will either quit or wear the leathers. Why wait for the pain? Use our experience to avoid it. Unless of course you are like 99% of all welders, and just a little hard headed when it comes to taking advice. I am just having a little fun with you here. But seriously, the burns hurt and the leathers will help.
Mike Sherman
MC,
Leather boot strings will be next, Those cloth ones that come in those new boots will make it about a couple of days(maybe). Cutting and burning usually get the strings pretty quick. I like the green sleeves in the summer and the leathers in the winter. Burns or the thought of being burned makes you less productive, so go ahead get yourself some.
John Wright
Now that the subject of bootlaces has come up, I did an experiment many years ago, and you are gonna laugh when you hear this. I used light cable maybe 1/8 inch or smaller for laces I forget, it worked very well for bootlaces, then I got the neat idea to coat them with some kind of vinyl stuff to keep my fingers from getting cut up tying them. Two sets lasted about 3 years, lots longer than the boots ever did. The foreman asked where I saw this, I told him I thought it up myself, he told me I had too much time on my hands and laughed. Oh well give a shot and see what you think. J Krout
I used to work in a shipyard, and I went through shirts faster than I changed my underwear (well, almost). The best shirt I've found were the old cotton army shirts, you'd be hard pressed to find any today, but they were tight woven cotton so something like that would be good. More practically though, hit the thrift stores, load up on shirts there, they're cheap! Hang in there, you say you're new, after a while you'll keep more fire on the job and less on you!
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