Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi everyone, Louise here. I'm a noob to this place and was hoping that somebody could steer me in the right direction for some TIG gloves that are suitable for hands that are small. Probably and item marked as women's, although i know that term is rather inaccurate because anyone can have any size hands. I know men's hands are rarely small in size and maybe this is why i am finding it so darn difficult to get small or extra small gloves. I'd need about a 7.5" glove if anyone can shed some light. Thanks folks

Hello Louise, welcome to the forum
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Welcome to the board.

One thing to know, TIG gloves shrink after some use. As a result, I have about a dozen pairs of Men’s XXL gloves that I’m sure would suit you My 12yo daughter uses them for horseback riding after I’ve used them for about a month because of this.

I generally just buy thin leather gloves from the hardware store.

They are usually not cow hide. Goat or deer hide gloves are soft and provide good dexterity for feeding rod.

My sleeves are long enough to cover my wrist so no special gloves are needed.

The Tig Finger heat shield, from this website, protects my glove and hand from high heat while propping my hand on the metal.

Thanks for the welcome folks, i recently got a TIG finger but I'm slightly confused about how exactly i should use it effectively. I wish there was more outlets around where i live that sells varieties of welding gear, trying before buying is extremely handy when looking for the right gloves....no pun intended of course.

WEASY-WOO wrote:Thanks for the welcome folks, i recently got a TIG finger but I'm slightly confused about how exactly i should use it effectively. I wish there was more outlets around where i live that sells varieties of welding gear, trying before buying is extremely handy when looking for the right gloves....no pun intended of course.

Go to Jody's video page http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/ he have lot's of videos on how to use the TIG finger. I believe he started the TIG finger.

WEASY-WOO wrote:Thanks for the welcome folks, i recently got a TIG finger but I'm slightly confused about how exactly i should use it effectively. I wish there was more outlets around where i live that sells varieties of welding gear, trying before buying is extremely handy when looking for the right gloves....no pun intended of course.

I generally rest my pinky on the work I'm welding. So it slides on my pinky to protect it from heat.

Weasy,

tig gloves are cheap, get a decent pair and see how you like them.

You can buy many of the popular brands for about $10-$12.

I use a pair of dearskin Tillmans, they are 25B.

http://jtillman.com/products/gloves/tig/25b/

There's a link on that page for how they size them and they go down to XS, here's the link:

http://jtillman.com/material-safety/til ... w-to-size/

I got one size smaller than I normally wear, and almost bought 2 sizes smaller, so hope they will shrink some as others say in this thread. You want to be able to pick up filler rod easily with them, so most tig gloves fit tighter.

My first pair of tig gloves and I haven't been tig welding very long, so take my comments with a grain of salt if you like. I tried on 3 different style tig gloves at my local welding shop, the dearskin felt the best to me. I use elkskin for stick, but they are too bulky for tig welding.

Alan

I use the 25B as well for the feed hand and the fingers were initially too loose. You can custom shrink deerskin without destroying them. I washed them and put them in the dryer. It is easy to overdo, so check them often. The torch glove fit wasn't the problem and continued to shrink with use, so maybe leave that one out.

Miller has small and x-small on the spendy side, but you will find reports of money well spent.

Gloves sold for Tig are just thin leather gloves mostly of a softer leather - there are plenty of places to buy similar gloves that do the same job without the complication of mentioning welding - if you go to a garden center / B&Q / Homebase / Bunnings have a look at they're selection of leather gardening gloves & there will be some soft leather types that are perfectly OK & they generally do have small sizes as women like gardening ! " Briers " is a good brand to look for - if you have nothing local Ebay deliver anywhere - even the land where sheep are scared !

WEASY-WOO wrote:... i recently got a TIG finger but I'm slightly confused about how exactly i should use it effectively.

Mostly, you stick your ring/pinky finger in the "pocket" with the folds towards your work. This creates layers of protection between your torch hand and work. Then use the TIG Finger to help slide your torch hand along the work.

I've used 2 TFs on either hand when working on thick steel or thick aluminum to keep my rod hand from melting either. Especially when welding thick aluminum and nearing the end of the piece, that metal gets REALLY dang hot.