Cotton is very good, there's also NOMEX, fire gear is made from it, Leather, I have a full set of leathers but always used cotton or my light NOMEX jacket , remember it's gonna be hot.

 

Get you some nice thick welding shirts like LAPCO sells. And you can buy leather sleeves if you think you need them. You shouldn't need more than that in school. It's not like you're going to be laying down in a tight spot where you can't move, with fire raining down on you. You can buy single sleeves, or you can get a double sleeve set that fits over your shoulders. I would go with the single, but you won't really need it until you start welding overhead.

 

Cotton gets my vote too. We have some welders here that work heavy metal all day every day, in all positions. Remember in the field you will probably be looking up from the dirt maybe even mud. The advice of these fine folks would be the best

 

What size are you? I have some welding shirts (size 19XL 38) that I don't need any more, since I retired. They're used, but I was still using them when I retired. I would sell them cheap, but you have to pay the shipping. I have one that's practically unused, it doesn't even have any little burn holes in it. LAPCO, khaki, non FR.
They are this style:

 

Thank you for the offer! But those sound a little bit too big for me lol

 

go ahead and get the leather jacket, and get chaps while ur at it. that way u can look stylish when u and ur mom go out on the town

 

I just started my welding program and all we have done so far is oxyacetylene cutting. My teacher said that my 100% cotton work shirt is suitable for the job but my question is will I need a heavier duty jacket for mote advanced welding or complicated position in the future? I like to be prepared and even if I'm not going to need a FR jacket until my second year I'd still like to have one now so I don't have to stress over it later. The other thing is I don't want flame retardant because my mother doesn't want me getting cancer from it. Cow heid or any other leather seems expensive but I did see a split cow leather and cotton heavy duty jacket on sale that I have my eye on if the purchase is necessary. So what do y'all think? Will I need to buy a stronger jacket or does my mediocre work shirt fit the job? I plan on doing welding for the rest of my career and will be doing OAW, GMAW, GTAW, and basically every other common kind.

Pfft, you'll be an alcoholic chain smoker before the chemicals in the shirt causes cancer

 

That's what they say lol but I do as mommy says so if she wants me to stay away for my he retardants I sure as heck am gonna keep my distance.

 

A lot of welders are chain smokers & chain drinkers! I wonder why?

 

Just drinking I get enough smoke from welding plus my old man smoked enough for 4 people carton every 2-3 days had to endure that , left at 15

 

I would never buy FR unless I was on a job that required it, and I didn't want to wear their company supplied coveralls. I certainly wouldn't buy FR for welding school. That stuff stinks when a spark hits it. It doesn't stop sparks, all it does is keep you from catching on fire. Which when you catch on fire from welding, you're gonna know it pretty fast, and do something about it.

 

If you want to be prepared get yourself a tillman leather cape sleeve with the 20” bib or a 30” leather jacket. I have too many burn scars on my forearms from back when I still wore cotton shirts or the green fr jackets. I also highly recommend a stand up collar like the leathers have. I have a nasty scar on my chest from a red hot cherry falling in my plain collared shirt. I seem to go through about one leather jacket and one cape sleeve per year, doing a reasonable amount of welding and a lot of grinding. You’ll burn up a lot more cotton shirts.

 

I have this jacket and have modified it to my liking.

I also have their gloves and a few different accessories.

Works well for out of position welding and plasma cutting
Travis

 

I have this jacket and have modified it to my liking.


View attachment 1817667

I also have their gloves and a few different accessories.

Works well for out of position welding and plasma cutting
Travis

Leather is better for out of position welding , ask any welder to show battle scars ,only used these for flash protection when tacking up stuff,light cutting ectt.. , leather for welding and gouging.

 

Ok, so your mom is worried about you getting cancer from your clothing, but you want to be a welder, what are you doing for lung protection? The fumes and off gasses from welding contain toxins, there’s grinding dust, chemicals used for removing rust(if you use them and a whole slew of other problems. Do you have a PAPR for your lungs. Heck an ex neighbor decided to become a welder and became a leg amputee within 2 years when a piece of plate he was moving fell on him.

 

Ya know what...this aint easy work and it aint always an easy life. Its got its very own collection of dangers and hazards. Like stuff you cant see and stuff you can see that you breathe in all day or all night or both unless you cover up your face and decide to live with a plastic bubble over over your nose and mouth and restrict the air that you breathe in by what...maybe 50%.

Then you got got hot stuff you lean on sometimes to keep your balance and other hot stuff that can fall on you and make you look like a bunch of bugs with deep fangs were feasting on your skin and blood.

Then you have heavy stuff that can fall and kill you in the blink of an eye if you make one simple mistake.

Cancer from FRC clothing is the least of your worries...what I would be more concerned about if I had to wear FRC crap is heat injuries...that crap is hot. I dont like it but the work clothes they provide at work at no cost to me that am not required to wear so I put up with the heat and drink more water duing the day and more beer at night. Leather stuff is hot too but does a better job of protecting you from gettin burnt...I wear a full leather jacket in the winter if I have to work directly under what I am cuttin out or weldin...Summertime I either just put up with it and eat it while wearing an extra shirt made with some sort of canvas type material or a blue jacket with leather sleeves from Tillman.

Dont worry about what Mom says she dont know any more about weldin than what you do right now

Popeye

 

Listen to Popeye. Was hoping he would join in.

 

Cheap cape sleeves with apron.
Good protection and cooler than a jacket in summer. I still use mine from welding school 40+ years ago.