How to Choose Welding Gloves: Matching the Glove to MIG, TIG and Stick

The best welding gloves for you are the ones matched to your process. AWS guidance points TIG work to a thin, tight-fitting goat, deer or sheepskin glove, MIG and stick to thick, insulated leather with melt-through and cut resistance, and high-amperage flux-core to a heavier-duty glove. Whatever you pick, it should cover your wrist and lower forearm and fit with your jacket sleeve.

Best Welding Gloves by Process: Quick Picks

Black Stallion sorts its own welding gloves into MIG, stick and TIG categories, and that's a practical way to shop. Start with the work you do, then narrow by leather, cuff and fit.

The table below follows the process guidance published in AWS Welding Digest, with leather notes from Black Stallion.

If you switch between TIG and stick in the same week, two pairs may serve you better than one glove that tries to do both. Buying for a crew that runs mixed processes? Sort by who runs what before you order, so each welder ends up with a glove matched to the work.

Not sure which process you'll run most? Read our breakdown of MIG vs TIG vs stick, then come back and match the glove to the work.

How to Choose Welding Gloves for Your Process

The guidance in AWS Welding Digest works like a sliding scale. The harder a process pushes heat and spatter at your hands, the thicker the recommended glove, and the more feel you give up for that protection.

Best TIG welding gloves: thin and tight

On a TIG weld you're feeding filler rod with one hand and steering the torch with the other. Dexterity counts for more than bulk here.

AWS guidance calls for a tight-fitting goat, deer or sheepskin glove for TIG and other low-amperage work, and notes that thick leather is unnecessary there.

Black Stallion describes goatskin as very supple with a high lanolin content, and uses it for TIG gloves. It also lists kidskin as one of the thinnest leathers used in work gloves.

Some TIG gloves add padding right where your hand drags along the work or rests on the table. If you run long beads with your hand braced on the part, that's a detail worth looking for in the product description.

Best MIG welding gloves: protection with some feel

AWS groups MIG with stick: thick, insulated leather with melt-through and cut resistance. You still need enough feel to work the trigger and place the nozzle where you want it.

You'll often see pigskin and cowhide in this group. Black Stallion says pigskin doesn't stiffen after getting wet, which helps when your gloves pick up sweat or weather, and that cowhide performs very well against sparks and spatter.

If you run high-amperage or pulsed MIG, AWS points to a heavier-duty glove. More on that below.

Best stick welding gloves: heat and spatter first

Stick and air carbon arc put your hands close to heat, sparks and spatter, so protection comes ahead of feel. AWS calls for the same thick, insulated leather with melt-through and cut resistance it recommends for MIG.

Black Stallion calls elkskin its top choice for stick gloves, saying it stays soft when hot and wet. Its leather guide also names side split, taken from the back and sides of the hide, as the most durable split.

Then check the liner. On its 320, a side split cowhide stick glove with a padded liner, Black Stallion lists a CushionCore padded liner for extra heat-blocking comfort along with Kevlar stitching.

High-amperage flux-core and pulsed MIG

AWS says high-amperage flux-core or pulsed MIG requires a heavier-duty glove. "Heavier duty" isn't a single spec, so start with the stick gloves and read each product's description for the leather and the liner. Thicker leather and a padded liner are the two details to compare.

Leather Welding Gloves: What They're Made Of

What is the best material for welding gloves? It depends on the process. Thin, supple leathers fit TIG, while thicker hides fit MIG, stick and air carbon arc.

With leather welding gloves, both the animal and the cut of the hide shape how the glove feels and protects. These are the terms you'll run into on product pages.

Grain vs split leather

Black Stallion's leather terminology guide defines the two cuts:

• Grain is the outer layer of the hide, where the hair grew.
• Split is what remains after the grain is removed from a thick hide.

The same guide grades the splits. Side split, from the back and sides, is the most durable, shoulder split is less uniform, and belly split is the thinnest and is used in economy gloves. Goatskin is too thin to split at all.

AWS notes that grain leather sheds molten metal better than split, while split leather on the back of the hand and cuff acts as a barrier against sparks and molten metal. Keep that in mind when a description lists grain in one area of a glove and split in another.

Leather types at a glance

Here's how the common glove leathers compare, using Black Stallion's descriptions and the AWS process guidance.

When a product title names the leather, this table works as a quick decoder. For more detail, see leather types explained in our buyer's guide.

Stitching, seams and liners

The leather is only part of the glove. For the 320 stick glove, Black Stallion lists:

• Kevlar stitching for spark and abrasion resistance
• Welted finger seams that protect the stitching
• A CushionCore padded liner for extra heat-blocking comfort

They're worth checking on any heavier glove. A liner does add bulk, though, and bulk costs you feel. That trade is why thin, unlined gloves suit TIG, where AWS says thick leather is unnecessary.

Cuff Length and Fit

AWS says your gloves should be heat resistant, cover your hand, wrist and lower forearm, and fit over or under your jacket sleeve. What you're after is overlap, so there's no gap for sparks to find when you reach or raise your arms.

If you weld out of position or overhead, a longer cuff gives you more overlap with your sleeve. Black Stallion's GS1321-BG, a 21 in long-cuff stick glove in split cowhide, lists that long cuff for more forearm protection, plus RestPatch wrist and forearm padding, a CushionCore liner and Kevlar stitching. It comes in sizes M to XL.

To check your setup, put the gloves on with the jacket you weld in, then raise your arms and reach forward. If skin shows between cuff and sleeve, a longer cuff or a different sleeve combination will close the gap.

Fit matters too. A glove that's too big makes the torch or rod harder to control, and one that's too small pinches across your palm.

Black Stallion sizes gloves by hand circumference across the palm. Measure around your palm and match it here (men's sizes):

If you have extra-long fingers or fingernails, Black Stallion suggests sizing up. Check the full glove size guide before you order.

Do Welding Gloves Need a Safety Rating?

In the US, OSHA's hand protection rule, 29 CFR 1910.138, puts the choice on employers. They must select and require hand protection when hands face hazards such as severe cuts, abrasions, punctures, chemical burns, thermal burns and harmful temperature extremes, and base that choice on how the glove performs for the task rather than on a named rating.

Your employer's hazard assessment decides what a specific job requires. If you weld at home, treat that same approach as recognized best practice: look at the hazards your work creates and pick gloves that handle them. For the rest of your gear, see our welding PPE checklist.

Two standards come up when you read glove labels:

• EN 12477 (a European standard). It sorts welding gloves into Type A (higher protection, general welding) and Type B (higher dexterity, lower protection, for example TIG). Type A requires EN 407 small molten metal splash level 3 and convective heat level 2. Type B requires splash level 2, no convective heat level, and EN 420 dexterity level 4, versus level 1 for Type A.
• ANSI/ISEA 105-2024 (US). This is the current US hand protection classification. It covers cut, puncture and abrasion, chemical permeation and degradation, and heat and flame (ignition resistance, heat degradation and conductive heat). The 2024 edition added a pentagon-shaped label showing cut (A1 to A9), puncture (0 to 5) and abrasion ratings in fixed positions, and conductive heat keeps its own pictogram.

EN 12477 lines up with the AWS process rule: its TIG-style Type B glove trades some protection for dexterity.

So rely on a rating only when the product page lists it. If it doesn't, choose by process, leather and coverage.

Care, Storage and When to Replace

Start by keeping your gloves dry. If a pair gets wet, swap it for a dry one before you strike an arc.

Welding gloves aren't electrical insulating gloves, so don't count on them for shock protection.

Can you wash welding gloves? Follow the care tag first. If there isn't one, general leather glove care looks like this:

• Clean with oil-based saddle soap and as little water as possible.
• Air dry so the gloves keep their size and don't shrink.
• Skip the machine dryer, and keep them away from heaters and other heat sources while they dry.

If your gloves get damp from sweat or weather, a second pair lets one dry while you wear the other. Between jobs, store them somewhere dry and away from heat.

Give them a quick look before each use. It's time for a new pair if you see:

• Burned-through spots or holes in the leather
• Seams opening up
• A liner that's gone flat
• Leather that's hardened or cracked after heat or a soaking

Welding Gloves FAQ

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