Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello TIG welders,

Can you give me an idea if there would be any benefits to having left and right handed TIG welding gloves (for a right or left handed person)?
Thanks

I'm sorry but huh?

As a TIG welder aren't you predominately holding the torch with 1 hand that the material with the other? Wouldn't it make sense to accommodate that?

I wear gloves on both hands. Gotta protect em from the heat and light. I don't know if there's anything else you're lookin for.

Not sure if this is more market research or a genuine question - but it's not as daft as it first reads - for all of us that have only air cooled torches there is a need for more heat protection at the expense of dexterity for the torch hand - the filler wire hand glove however really needs to be thinner & provide good feel - I often wear two different gloves for this reason - buying a thin & thick pair allows you to do this & swap filler / torch hand if needed - if you weld with the torch always in the same hand I can see the possibility of buying gloves where the pair are not the same - don't know if the idea would sell - but I'd still like to see a glove made with the "Tig finger" material for it's heat protection properties.

noddybrian wrote:Not sure if this is more market research or a genuine question - but it's not as daft as it first reads - for all of us that have only air cooled torches there is a need for more heat protection at the expense of dexterity for the torch hand - the filler wire hand glove however really needs to be thinner & provide good feel - I often wear two different gloves for this reason - buying a thin & thick pair allows you to do this & swap filler / torch hand if needed - if you weld with the torch always in the same hand I can see the possibility of buying gloves where the pair are not the same - don't know if the idea would sell - but I'd still like to see a glove made with the "Tig finger" material for it's heat protection properties.

Hah, you know, I've been thinking the same thing! I like using the TIG finger, I usually use it on my pinky of the torch hand, though sometimes I use it on my middle finger, depending on what I have to rest on. When I flip my helmet and let things cool, alot of times the tig finger falls off, it happens alot Minor annoyance though, and probably only happens because I'm not used to using it.

Noddybrian makes a great point.

Even with a water-cooled torch, I know people who grip close to the business end and the heat, and would like a heavier glove than on the feed hand.

I, however, weld with both hands almost equally, so simply buying two pair of gloves, one heavier than the other, is a good solution. That said, I don't grip very close to the business end of the torch, and light work gloves are fine for most of my projects, with the TIG Finger, of course, where needed.

Steve S

I don't know about y'all, but I find the back of my fingers on my torch hand get hot - mostly radiated heat from the workpiece.

Maybe Jody should just sell an "over glove" with holes for the thumb and forefinger pads. Use with your favorite Tillman, etc.

I got a thin pair of "tig" gloves at Airgas and I where the left hand one since I'm left handed and I put the tig finger on my pinky as a rest and I have an old pair of driver gloves that had an unfortunate encounter with a bench grinder and it ripped the whole inside of the thumb out and the inside of the middle finger so that my thumb and middle finger can touch and the rest of the hand is protected. Believe it or not I didn't have to do any cutting but I can touch the wire with my bare thumb and middle finger but everything else is protected. If you want to do this, I recommend cutting them, not with a bench grinder.

Hey,

Related but different... I know people who mig with a light tig glove on their triggy finger and a heavy glove on their "guide" hand

Mick

weldin mike 27 wrote:Hey,

Related but different... I know people who mig with a light tig glove on their triggy finger and a heavy glove on their "guide" hand

Mick

I am one of those people!
-Jonathan