If you’re heading back to welding school this Fall, here’s some welding supplies you may want to make sure you have.
Welding Safety First
Flames, sparks, hot stuff– welding can be dangerous! And you want to make sure you protect your eyes.
Eye injuries–arc flash, flying particles, molten metal, grinding dust–are the most common welding injuries. With a nice pair of safety glasses like these ArcArmor safety glasses from Miller you can keep your eyes safe and look good! They come in a variety of colors and in both clear lenses and shade 5.0 lenses.
Make sure you have a hood too– a welding helmet. You don’t have to spend a lot of money–you can get a passive welding helmet for around $35, or a basic fixed shade auto-darkening helmet for a little more than a hundred bucks.
If you’re not sure which welding helmet to choose, here’s the rundown on the basics from Mr. TIG :
Arc-Zone has a comprehensive paper on selecting a welding helmet (.pdf). It includes a guide to the lens shade you’ll need depending on the type of work you’re doing, information on fixed versus variable light filtration, auto-darkening versus flip helmets, and for the over-40 welder information on cheater lenses.
And print this white paper, Eye Care for Welders (.pdf) for information on what to do, what NOT to do when you’re injured, and when to go to the emergency room.
A good pair of gloves goes a long way too. Arc-Zone carries these sweet AngelFire welding gloves sized for women.
Be sure to take a look a the rest of the AngelFire line of welding apparel for women. It’s sized to fit a woman’s body so you’ll be more comfortable.
And to carry everything you need? Check out our favorite helmet bag–actually to call it a helmet bag is to do it a disservice. This back back holds so much more than a helmet! 
Check it out: helmet, gloves, thermos, some rod, a TIG Calculator, a spare shirt…. there may even be a lunch box down there! This welding gear pack from the folks at BSX is stylish and more functional than any welding helmet bag on the market.
So learn as much as you can to make yourself as valuable as possible in this unpredictable job market!