The Best Welding Sleeves For The Money
Choose from three of the best welding sleeves available (which you can read about below), then pair it with a welding apron to ensure that your body is well protected, too.
1. Mechanix Wear MHS-05-500 Heat Sleeve (Sold in pairs)
The Good
The Fibreshield treatment is just about the most impressive feature of these sleeves. Essentially, it has been designed to coat the sleeves to give even higher levels of protection than standard, non-treated sleeves. As a result, these sleeves repel corrosive liquids, oils and fuels, keeping your arms safe and dry. Of course, this is in addition to the 100% Kevlar knit, which gives excellent protection from heat and flames.
This knit is also great for winter and cooler temperatures, because it’s one way to keep really warm and cosy! These sleeves fit over the hands (with thumb holes which make them extremely comfortable), so they provide impressive protection for more than just the forearms. Many other welding sleeves are sold as singles, but here you have a pack of two. This is really handy, especially as they are interchangeable; they aren’t ‘left’ or ‘right’ specific, so you can wear either sleeve on either arm.
The Bad
At 17 inches long, these sleeves are disappointingly short compared to most other brands on the market, especially as they’re designed to fit over the hands. This means that they won’t protect the upper arms at all, which isn’t great if you want to weld in a T-shirt. Several wearers have reported that these sleeves are slightly irritating to wear; the tag becomes annoying after a while, and not having elastic at the top means that they slip down fairly easily.
Conclusion
All in all, these are the best welding sleeves for your money. They are very comfortable to wear, and the level of protection they offer is second-to-none.
2. US Forge 99411 23-Inch Welders Sleeve
The Good
Even if you have really long arms, you’ll find that the length of these sleeves is really impressive. At 23 inches long, it covers right from the wrist to the top of the bicep, which reduces the need for a welding jacket or some other protective clothing.
They’re held in place by 2.5 inch elastic cuffs at both the wrist and bicep ends, so you don’t have to worry about the sleeves slipping down – even if you have larger arms. As a result, when you wear these your arms will be well protected from sudden flash exposure, light molten splash, and burns from sparks.
The Bad
These sleeves aren’t really suitable for dirty or heavy duty welding, so you might be limited in terms of the number of jobs for which you can wear them. Furthermore, neither the elastic nor the cotton is likely to withstand being used in the long term, so you will need to buy replacements fairly soon. On the upside, at least replacements aren’t too expensive!
Conclusion
All in all, these are great value, especially if you’re looking for extra long sleeves
3. BLACK STALLION BSX® Kevlar Sleeves
The Good
One of the most noticeable, distinguishing features of these sleeves is the thumb hole. If you’ve ever worn other sleeves, arm warmers or sweaters that have thumb holes then you’ll know how comfortable this is – as a result, it’s a pleasure to wear these sleeves for a full day of welding. This also means that they protect the backs and palms of the hands as well as the forearms. You can switch them around and wear either sleeve on either arm, which makes them even more comfortable as you won’t have any discomfort if you accidentally wear the left sleeve on the right arm (or vice versa).
Some other similar sleeves of this type have irritating seams and hems around the palm ends of the sleeves which can be highly annoying and uncomfortable, but these sleeves don’t have any of this stitching at all. They’re made from a Kevlar knit which is super strong, providing resistance against abrasion, cuts and punctures, as well as heat, flames and sparks, which is all the protection you need in the average workshop!
The Bad
These sleeves haven’t really been designed to give adequate protection to the upper arms. This is because they measure 18 inches from end to end; because they’re designed to fit over the hand, they only just about reach the top of the elbow. As a result, you’ll need to invest in some other sort of protection to keep your upper arms safe as well.
The knit means that not only are they hot to wear during summer, but also these sleeves are stretchy, which will work loose over time. Despite this, the sleeves still might feel a little tight on bigger or more muscular arms. Lastly, there have been some reports that these sleeves don’t stand up to the highest temperatures, but the Kevlar knit should be tough enough to protect you from most hazards that you’re likely to encounter.
Conclusion
It seems that these sleeves are slightly short and sometimes too stretchy to be perfect, but otherwise they’re a good buy that will offer decent protection.
