Welding Shirt Selection Guide – Products, Comparison

Welding operations include the use of very hot materials such as electrodes and molten metal. And we need to protect the welding operators from any danger that can be caused by the welding operations. Welding shirt is one of these protections. Here, you can find detailed information about the different welding shirt applications and how to select the proper welding shirt application for the welders.

What is Welding Shirt?

A welding shirt is a cloth that the welding operators are wearing. They are generally flame-retardant and anti-flammable clothes that protect the body of the operator from hot objects and slag spatters. According to occupational health and safety measurements, the use of welding shirts is a compulsory thing.

General Overview of Welding Shirts

Detailed Analysis of the Welding Shirts

According to the different features, pros, and cons, you can select the best welding shirt for your welding operations here.

This one is the first and most common welding jacket that people are buying from Amazon.com. There are different features that this product provides. The sleeves are leather and the body section is cotton. The hybrid structure will provide protection and lightweight application at the same time for the welding applications like TIG.

• The flame retardant cotton extinguishes the hot object when the welding operations can cause contact with flames and sparks.
• The sleeves made from leather make it very comfortable and heat resistant.
• The metal snaps are made from Nickel plated material that is durable and flame resistant.
• You can easily adjust the cuffs of this jacket which make it very useful for different cuff thicknesses.
• You can put different kinds of projects in the inside pocket. This makes it very versatile to use.
• Also, the collar of this jacket has a flip-up that can easily protect your neck from heat.
• From the same seller, you can find different sizes; X-Large, Medium, Large, XXL, and 3XL.

This one is another common welding shirt that is available in the market. The seller provides different sizes of them that you can choose for yourself.

• The fabric is 100% cotton so you will be fresher than the leather material.
• The snap closure makes it much easier to wear underwear.
• You can easily wash in the washing machine without any problem.
• Also, the check pockets make it very easy to put different objects inside it.
• Meets with HRC2 and NFPA2112 standardizations.

Also, we would like to add an inexpensive version of the welding shirt application that you can consider. The seller provides different designs in different sizes.

• 100% comfortable flame-resistant cotton.
• Button closure.
• Machine washable easily without any problem.
• 6.25 oz flame-resistant fabric.
• NFPA70E ASTM F1506 AND CAT II certified.
• HRC2 Arc Rating of 8.2 calories /cm2 heat protection.
• Different sizes are available in the seller.

If you are looking for a welding shirt with a very good western style, you can consider this product without hesitation. It has a very good quality that you can use for different kinds of welding applications.

• Like the other products, it is completely made from cotton fabric.
• The total weight is 8 ounces which will be very useful for welding operations.
• The loose fit design makes it very comfortable because of the airflow inside it.
• Fashionable designs that are very attractive for different kinds of applications and welding places.

Also, this is a very good and lightweight welding shirt application that you can consider for welding operations in the field.

• 5.5 oz lightweight application that makes welding operations much more comfortable.
• Machine washable.
• 100% cotton fabric provides very good comfort.
• 11.6cal / cm sq. and complies with HRC 2 rating.
• NFPA 2112 and HRC 2 compliant.

This is another low-price welding shirt that you can consider to b

• The fabric is 88% cotton and 12% nylon, which you can use for different applications.
• The rubber lining makes it very useful for cold days.
• Snap button closure makes it very useful for such applications.

This one is another welding shişrt that you can consider because of its very different and attractive design. You can create a very good vibe in your working place by wearing this welding shirt. So, it is very useful for different kinds of applications.

• The fabric is 100% cotton that you can use for different kinds of applications.
• You can easily wash it in the machine.
• Easy button closure.
• 7.5 oz of total weight.
• 8.1 calories /cm2 arc rating.
• Meets the requirements of NFPA2112.

For the temperatures and more protection, the use of completely leather welding shirt applications are very common in general. So, it will be very useful if you consider these welding shirts.

• The leather material makes it very useful and has very high protection for MIG welding applications.
• The snap closures make it very easy to wear in most applications.
• Also, the seams are double stitched which prevents tears.
• The sparks can not come from the neck side of your shirt. The collar protection is superior for these welding shirts.

If you are looking for a very high-quality welding shirt, you can also consider this one to buy. The heat and flame-resistant leather material make it very useful for heavy-duty welding applications.

• The heat-resistant thread is of very high quality that will resist spatters and arcs.
• With the additional tool pockets, it will provide the required protection for the application.
• Also, it provides multi-functional applications.
• Different sizes are available.

Hybrid welding clothes are generally one of the most desired systems to use. They provide the lightweight application of the cotton material and the high-quality protection of the leather for the arms. So, you can use this welding jacket for TIG welding and stick welding applications.

• Cotton body and leather sleeves.
• High-quality material.
• Extra protection for the arms and hands.
• 10 oz flame-resistant cotton is very good for welding operations.
• Both are lightweight and protective.
• You can easily adjust the necks and cuffs to protect your body parts from slags.
• They are generally multi-function.

Welding Shirt Selection Guide

It is a complete guide for the welding shirt selection. According to you and the parameters, you will be able to select the best welding shirt.

You may think that selecting welding shirts is a very easy thing. And most people think that they need to select the most cheapest one to protect themselves. But, the situation is not like this. There are different important points that we need to consider about the welding shirts.

Why Do We Need Heat Resistance in Welding?

In welding operations, we generally melt the metals and other materials by using heat or an electric arc. And when they boil, they can create spatters. These spatters are very high in temperature and if they touch your skin, they can immediately burn skin.

Also, for stick welding applications, the electrical arc is a very important problem. We use the electric arc to melt the material. So, the temperature of the electric arc is very high. And if it contacts your skin, it can be very dangerous for you.

Because of this situation, there are occupational safety and health regulations in the places where people are making welding operations. And we need to comply with the rules in these places.

So, different manufacturers are designing different welding coveralls and welding shirts to protect the workers and operators from the dangers caused by welding operations.

Material of the Welding Shirts

The flame resistance for the welding shirts is very important. And if the level of flame resistance is high, they are more appropriate for welding operations in general. So manufacturers are using two different materials in general to produce welding shirts that are resistant to electric arcs and slags.

• Leather: For welding coveralls and welding applications, the use of leather material is one of the most common applications. Leather is the best material that provides flame protection. But, they are generally higher in price and generally very heavy for the workers. And people are looking for alternatives that are lighter in weight and cheaper.
• Cotton: The lightweight and cheaper welding shirt applications are ömanufacvtured from natural cotton. The cotton has very good flam protection. But the level of protection is generally lower than the leather material. And also, they are lighter in weight if we compare them with leather applications.
• Hybrid Material: The hybrid welding shirts are generally made from cotton for the body a leather for the arms. So, they are optimized in terms of weight and in terms of heat protection. If you are looking for an optimized way for them, you can consider hybrid materials.

Types of Welding Operations

There are different welding operations that we need to consider. We can not say that all welding applications lead to the same level of heat and arc danger.

In general, the most dangerous welding operation is MIG welding. Because the level of heat and spatter production is the greatest from the MIG operations. Because of it, leather shirts are chosen for these applications.

Also, TIG welding is the middle range of danger that you can use the hybrid material for them. They are very useful for different kinds of applications in general. The level of heat and the spatter is lower than the MIG but, higher than the stick and oxy-fuel welding.

Also for the oxy-fuel welding applications, the level of heat and danger is generally lower than in the TIG and MIG welding applications. And in general, we use oxy welding to weld the materials like coıpper and aluminum which have lower melting temğperatures. So, you can use cotton fabric for these applications.

What Do we expect from Welding Shirt Applications?

Also, we need to look for the different points and qualities in the welding shirt applications.

• Nomex thread: It is the flame retardant thread application that we generally use for welding shirts.
• Longer tails: If the shirt tails are longer than usual, they will provide much better protection.
• Buttons and snaps: Also buttons and snaps must be compliant with heavy-duty applications. It is very important that they will not get loosened over the use of long periods. So, they are very useful in different kinds of applications.
• Weight of fabric: In terms of comfort, we generally prefer the lower weights of the fabric. But we need to know that heavier applications are much better in protection.
• Adjustable cuffs: According to the thickness of your wrist, you need to be able to adjust the cuff. Because the slags can run from cuffs to your skin.
• Made from natural materials: They must be made from natural materials such as cotton and leather. Otherwise, they will not be flame retardant or resistant.
• Long sleeves: To protect the arms correctly, we generally expect to have long sleeves in general.
• Breathability: Comfort is also a very important parameter that we need to consider for the welding shirt applications. If the fabric is breathable, the worker will not sweat during the welding operation.
• Stitching: The stitching must be durable enough to prevent any tears.
• Moisture resistant: Most of the welding operators need to work in heavy rains or high moisture environments. Soi moisture resistance is a very important thing to consider for them.
• Colors and size: The size of them must fit the worker or operator and the color must fit t the working environment. It will be better to select easy-to-recognize colors for the working environment.

Safety Standards that You Need to Look For

There are also important safety standards that you need to look at in the welding shirts. Because these safety standards define if the welding protective coveralls and shirts are usable in the field. So, it is very important to know it.

• ATPV Rating: This is a very important parameter that you need to look for in welding shirts. The ATPV rating means the amount of heat can welding shirt resists in 2 seconds. For example, if the ATPV rating is 6 for a shirt, this means, the coverall can resist the 6 calories per square centimeter of the fabric. With this increasing number, the resistance to heat increases.
• ASTM 1506: The American Safety Testing and Materials Society provides the required safety standards for fire protection. ASTM defines the standards and measurements for the ATPV standards and HRC standards that we are looking for in the hazard resistance category.
• FR: If a welding coverall or shirt has this standardization, this means they can resist firing for 2 seconds according to the HRC standards.
• HRC: It means Workplace Hazard Risk Category. According to this risk category, the workplaces have different categories that are changing from 0(no risk) to 4(extreme risk). And the heat resistant applications such as welding shirts have HRC category 2 protection in general. This means they have an APTV score of 8.0 to 24.9.
• NFPA 2112: This is the standard that states the general requirements to save the worker from flash fires. But this standard does not include the electric arc statements. This is the standard that we need to look for for the welding shirt systems in general. In general welding, shşrt systems are tested in the UL or Underwriters Laboratories accepted third-party test instructions. And they get the NFPA 2112 protection label. You need to look for this label.

Budget Considerations for Welding Shirts

Also, there are different budget considerations that we need to make. Because the amount of money that you need to pay is also a very important thing to consider in general.

In general, if we take a look at the general prices of the welding shirt applications, the highest prices are generally leather applications. Because manufacturing the leather is much more troublesome and costly. And also, cotton applications are generally lower in cost.

Furthermore, there are applications that have lower levels of cotton such as 88% cotton and 12% polyester. And they are generally lower in price than the cotton applications. So, it is very important to consider the budget in terms of this.

Climate Considerations

If an operator works on hot or cold days, it is also very important to consider the climate of the working area of the worker.

In general, workers are wearing extra clothes inside them. And also if they wear welding shirts inside them, it will not be any kinds of problems. So, you do not need to bother yourself to select a thick shirt.

But on hot days, the protective shirts can be very troublesome for the operator. Especially the leather ones can be very sweating. And the cotton ones are generally the best ones on hot days.

But you need to take a look for systems that have breathable to minimize the effects of the hot days.

Last Words on Welding Shirt Systems

As you see above, we tried to give all the important considerations about the welding shirt applications. They are very important systems that we need to consider about them. And you can find all the important parameters to consider while you are selecting the best one for your application.

You need to check for the standardizations and other kinds of important things while you are selecting the welding shirt applications.

If you have additional comments and questions about these welding shirt applications, please leave your feedback below.

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