Gloves do a good job of protecting your hands and wrists. But what about a couple of inches past that?
Is the rest of your arm immune to sparks, splatter, and heat?
Probably not. Sometimes a welding jacket can help. But are you always working in jacket weather?
It’s problems like that which drive many to consider welding sleeves.
Lincoln Electric Black One Size Flame-Resistant Welding Sleeves
Similar to a pair of inexpensive welding gloves, Lincoln Electric’s KH813 sleeves are something you should consider a consumable. Sooner or later these sleeves will need to be replaced. The only question is what kind of protection they can provide while they’re around, and how long they’re able to serve.
Aesthetically speaking, these sleeves are professional-looking, if a bit bland. The Lincoln Electric logo is written across the top of the shoulder cuff, but the otherwise vacantly black material makes no effort to stand out. Using black material also helps keep the sleeves looking about the same, even after they’ve been showered with sparks.
Protection Provided
Each sleeve is made from nine ounces of fire-resistant material. The general idea is clearly to help protect your arms from the heat and splatter associated with welding, though these sleeves are actually dynamic enough to be used outside of MIG welding and TIG welding with only a little imagination.
The material they’ve used is pretty well suited for its job, with one caveat. These sleeves are not especially effective at protecting your arms from UV. For some types of jobs, that can clearly be a problem. You don’t want to come home with sunburn, after all. This problem can be partially offset, but it’s worth considering.
Worn Comfort
The sleeves are designed to be close to a universal fit, stretching 21” in length. The end of each cuff is built from elastic materials which are used to help keep each sleeve in position. The material is basically a coarse nylon; its stiffness is similar to burlap.
And there’s a couple of advantages here. Because the material puffs out rather than hugs the skin, it doesn’t let sweat soak and absorb into the material as easily. It also makes it easy to place these sleeves over other materials, and makes them have an almost universal fit.
However, the only way to keep sleeves from moving around is squeezing your arm firmly with the fabric. Instead of squeezing your entire arm with tight-fitting fabric, Lincoln Electric’s sleeves only provide squeeze at the top and bottom of each cuff. Consequently, these sleeves tend to slide up and down while you’re using them. That means if you plan on using them for a couple of hours, you’re going to end up making adjustments half a dozen different times.
Also read: Best Welding Sleeves Overall
Who Should Choose LE’s Black One Size Flame-Resistant Welding Sleeves?
Choosing clothing is a personal decision, even when it comes to one-size fits-all sleeves. Aesthetic aside, people who are particularly tall may find the 21” length to be a little limiting. As long as you don’t think they’re too short or too hideous to wear, you should find these sleeves are cost effective protection.
Even when you’re wearing short TIG gloves, they cover you from wrist to armpit. Because of the elastic design, you could even pull them over a jacket for a little extra protection. That kind of adaptability is what makes it pretty easy to recommend Lincoln Electric Black One Size Flame-Resistant Welding Sleeves to people who are interested in value and comfort first, even if they’re not ideal for all types of lengthy tasks.
