Welding clothing and protection is a priority. Whatever a welder would wear on the job is always something that should contribute to safety but still would offer that kind of comfort that would not take away the precision and mobility every welder needs. Whether it be a welding mask, welding apron, welding jacket, or even welding gloves, getting high-quality welding protection is what you need.
Buying the Best Welding Shirts: A Complete Guide
If you’ve surfed the internet for different kinds of welding shirts, you’d find that there’s just too many to choose from. You might have even decided to go with buying two or three different kinds. Here’s the real deal of what you need to consider to finally get the right one.
Flame Retardant, Welding Shirts FR
If you’ve done some research, you’d know that some welding shirts look really cool but if you go ahead and look at the description you won’t find “flame retardant” in there. What you want to do is to make sure you see that certified “FR” label.
For a welding shirt to be certified “FR” it passes through a range of performance tests. Only when it has passed these tests could it have that stamp of approval to be called FR. Without that, you’d just be spending money on a regular shirt you buy elsewhere.
Fabric, Go with Flame Retardant Cotton
Most welding shirts are made out of cotton. In this case, you need a flame retardant cotton shirt. The reason why cotton makes a perfect material for welding shirts is it’s comfortable and breathable. These are things you need to get the mobility you need when you work. Some would also use some polyester or nylon to increase to that mobility.
Make sure you check the details of the fabric of what you’re buying so you don’t end up frustrated.
Size, the right dimensions for you
The next thing you need to consider is getting the right size for your body type. It would be perfect if you could just have a tailor-made welding shirt but that’s not the case. Make sure you check the dimensions listed on any webshop and take time to take your measurements so you get one that fits you perfectly.
Remember to put a bit of extra room after you take your measurements so you leave a bit of space for movement. The best way to do this is to take the dimension of a shirt you’d usually wear for work. That way you’d know that what you’re getting is something that fits you perfectly well.
Buttons or snaps
Most welding shirts have buttons but others have snaps. While this is a preference that really depends on you, snaps would work great keeping the heat out more but buttons would do the job just as well.
Wash Limits
For a welding shirt to be fire retardant, it needs to be made of a special coating that gives it this feature. The fact of the matter is these welding shirts usually have wash limits since every wash would diminish the effectivity of this special coat. While some manufacturers would leave out this detail, some would kindly include that in the product description. What you want is one with the highest number of wash limit so you get to maximize the use of the welding shirt for a longer period of time.
Design
There’s a range of designs for welding shirts out there that comes with different concepts. The only thing you have to remember is that you should not choose a welding shirt only for its design. There must be a balance between that, fabric, and it being FR certified which are the most important factors. It’s safety above all and design just comes after that.
Having these six factors to consider in choosing the best welding shirts, buying one won’t be such a hassle anymore. All you need is to keep things in perspective. Make sure your welding shirt is FR certified and it is made out of fabric that gives you maximum protection. Safety first and then design. If you find one that has all these factors, you have got yourself a winner!
