best welding blanket - Waylander Welding

A Comprehensive Guide on Caring for Your Fiberglass Welding Blanket

January 2, 2025November 17, 2023 by waylander_fiona

A fiberglass welding blanket is an essential tool for ensuring safety in welding environments. These durable and heat-resistant blankets provide protection against sparks, splatter, and heat during welding processes. To maximize their lifespan and effectiveness, it’s crucial to follow proper care and maintenance practices.

Fiberglass Welding Blanket: Proper Care

Cleaning:

Regular cleaning is key to maintaining the integrity of your fiberglass welding blanket. Begin by shaking off loose debris and dust. Use a soft brush or compressed air to remove any remaining particles. For stubborn stains, dampen a soft cloth with mild soap and water, and gently scrub the affected area. Avoid using harsh chemicals or abrasive materials, as they can damage the fiberglass fibers and compromise the blanket’s heat resistance.

Storage:

Proper storage is essential to prevent unnecessary wear and tear on your welding blanket. Store it in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight and extreme temperatures. Roll the blanket rather than folding it to prevent creases and weak points in the fabric. If possible, keep the blanket in a protective case or bag to shield it from potential damage.

Avoiding Contaminants:

Fiberglass welding blankets are susceptible to contamination from oils, greases, and other substances. Ensure the work area is clean before using the blanket and inspect it regularly for any signs of contamination. If you notice any foreign substances on the blanket, clean it immediately using the recommended cleaning methods.

Handling and Placement:

Handle the fiberglass welding blanket with care to avoid unnecessary stress on the fabric. When placing the blanket over a surface or equipment, ensure it is free from sharp edges or protruding objects that could puncture or tear the material. Secure the blanket in place to prevent it from shifting during welding activities.

Inspection:

Regularly inspect your fiberglass welding blanket for signs of wear, tear, or damage. Look for frayed edges, holes, or weakened areas. If you identify any issues, repair or replace the blanket as needed. A compromised blanket may not provide adequate protection during welding, putting you at risk of injury and reducing its overall effectiveness.

Caring for your Fiberglass Welding Blanket

Caring for your fiberglass welding blanket is essential for ensuring its longevity and effectiveness in providing a safe welding environment. By following proper cleaning, storage, and handling practices, you can extend the life of your welding blanket and maintain a high level of protection against sparks, splatter, and heat. Regular inspections will help you catch any issues early on, allowing you to address them promptly and continue working safely in your welding projects.

What is the Best Welding Blanket for a Smoker?

September 8, 2023August 5, 2021 by waylander_fiona

Welding blankets are, first and foremost, for welding. But because of its heat-resistant properties, it’s been used for many other things. Others use it to protect the ground or patio surfaces under a fire pit while some people use it to retain the heat in smokers and grills when the temps fall below freezing. For smokers, in particular, you need one that is guaranteed to work well when you use it at home with friends or family. With that, here’s a guide that can help you choose the best welding blanket for your smoker.

Best Welding blanket for Smoker – Fiberglass Welding Blanket

In choosing the best welding blanket for smoker, you need to know the right material. It should be heat resistant and should be able to work in high temperatures.

Welding blankets are usually made of fiberglass, leather, and felt. While leather and felt are effective in insulation and can resist heat well, the best welding blanket for smokers are those made out of fiberglass.

Heat Resistance

When it comes to heat resistance, BGF Industries says “fiberglass or woven fiberglass fabrics have excellent hear resistance at a relatively low cost. They retain approximately 50% of room temperature tensile strength at 700°F (371°C); approximately 25% at 900°F (482°C); with a softening point of 1555°F (846°C) and a melting point of 2075° F (1121 °C).”

It is for this reason that is the best welding blanket for a smoker. The upper surface can resist cold temperatures while keeping the inside of it warm. This means the cooker will keep an optimum temperature for cooking once covered with a fiberglass welding blanket.

welding blankets — Waylander Welding Blanket/Photo by user on Amazon

High Temperatures

When it comes to working with high temperatures, a fiberglass welding blanket can definitely withstand the heat that the smoker gives off in the cooking process. This will create an insulation layer that will keep the heat inside. This means you won’t need that much charcoal whenever you cook in cold temperatures or during the winter.

While welding blankets can be used for smokers, one has to know how to properly handle them while grilling at home or anywhere outdoors. Extra care must be taken to avoid injuries and it is very important to make sure that you keep your food away from the blanket material. Do not use welding blankets for smokers if you do not have any knowledge of their proper use.

Waylander Welding Fiberglass Welding Blanket

Now that you already know the best welding blanket for a smoker, it’s time you get one made of high-quality fiberglass that is durable enough to last you years!

The Waylander Welding Fiberglass Welding Blanket has been the talk of the welding community on numerous websites.

When you use Waylander’s Fiberglass Welding Blanket with Vermiculite Treatment, you’re ensuring everyone and everything’s safety. This uses high-quality fiberglass, infused with vermiculite to add another layer of fire prevention plus it has the unique property of binding the fiberglass, which significantly decreases shedding and dramatically reduces skin irritation.

Hang the blanket to protect walls, drape it over your work surface or place it on the floor. It’s heavy-duty and durable. If your plumbing or welding crew or your mechanics need a high-quality flame retardant blanket in their toolbox or gear, this is the one to buy.

So, the next time you get a welding blanket for your smoker, make sure you have the Waylander Welding Fiberglass welding blanket at the top of your list.

3 Other Ways to Use Welding Blankets

September 8, 2023October 9, 2020 by waylander_fiona

charcoal on a fiberglass welding blanket

Welding blankets for Grilling
Welding blankets for outdoor camping
Welding blankets for home emergencies

What are welding blankets used for? Just by the name itself, welding blankets are used for, of course, welding. But because of the materials used in manufacturing them which makes them heat resistant, welding blankets, whichever type you have – leather welding blankets, fiber welding blankets, or felt welding blankets – have been proven to be of use for different purposes by different people. Here we give you the other ways welding blankets can be used aside from welding.

The best welding blankets are known for their protective features. It’s fire retardant making it highly effective in protecting welders and their equipment and other materials against heat, sparks, and splatters. It’s also very useful while grinding, cutting, and any other activity that creates heat. Because of these, people have found out that it can be used for other purposes at home or even outdoors.

3 Other Ways to use Welding Blankets

Below you find 3 other ways welding blankets can be used apart from its main purpose for welders. Here we see how people can get really creative when it comes to using things around them which they can find useful in different situations.

Welding Blankets used for Grilling

Who doesn’t love flame-grilled burgers? Families everywhere would get together in their own backyard, most especially during the 4th of July, to celebrate over grilled burgers or barbecue.

If there’s one thing that you can’t have whenever you grill is to have undercooked or burnt meat.

To make sure that doesn’t happen, you need a significant amount of direct and radiant heat to make sure you grill those burgers well. But what if you wanted to grill even during the cold weather or even when it’s rainy or windy? This is where welding blankets become useful.

What you need to do is to take a welding blanket and wrap it around your cooking chamber or smoker. The blanket protects it from rain or wind and most importantly insulates the grill giving you the perfect amount of heat you need while stabilizing it longer burning less fuel or pellets. It’s efficient and it doesn’t cost that much. Make sure you have a welding blanket the next time you get the whole family for an outdoor grill soon.

Welding Blankets for Outdoor camping

Aside from using welding blankets for grilling, many also use it to make bonfires when camping to protect the lawn underneath. Welding blankets are not 100% fireproof (read more about this below) but they are fire-resistant up top a certain level of heat. Choosing a welding blanket that can withstand very high temperatures will do the job.

For outdoor camping, welding blankets can also be used in case of emergencies as a fire blanket to extinguish starting fires. Most welding blankets are made of fiberglass which makes it very heat resistant and could withstand high temperatures making it the perfect tool to put off the incipient fire.

Welding Blankets at home for safety

Next on the list is using welding blankets at home in the kitchen in case of emergencies to put off starting fires as well. It protects everyone at home, it protects goods, and it doesn’t need any maintenance at all. Just keep and store it in a place where it can be easily seen and reached by anyone at home in case of a fire. Restaurants are also encouraged to have welding blankets aside from fire extinguishers to have adequate displays to prevent and fight against fires.

Other things you need to know about Welding Blankets

Are welding blankets fireproof?

When you say fireproof, it means it is able to withstand fire or great heat. If we use this definition, then yes, welding blankets are fireproof but they also have certain limits when it comes to temperature resistance and that depends on the kind of material they’re made of.

Fiberglass welding blankets, for example, can stand working temperatures ranging from 300-2,300 degrees Fahrenheit while Felt welding blankets can only stand working temperatures of up to 1800 degrees Fahrenheit.

Are welding blankets waterproof?

Welding blankets are not 100% waterproof but they are water-resistant. Let’s not forget that welding blankets are still primarily to protect welders against heat, sparks, and splatter and not really about protection against water.

Knowing welding blankets are useful for other things apart from welding – grilling, outdoor camping, and even at home – it would be wise to get a welding blanket that would work for the specific use you need it for. Read our blog on How do I Choose the right Welding Blanket?