Okay, look, I admit it: I own a welder, but I’m not a welder. My experience shopping for welding masks is limited to places like Harbor Freight and Amazon.com, and the notion of searching for “welding respirator” or “welding PAPR” instead of “welding mask” never crossed my mind until reading this thread.
First tip: we call them “hoods”. As in “drop the hood and get to welding”
A welding mask to me is one of those handheld jobbies my instructor used to use back in welding school. Think clipboard on a stick with a very dark piece of glass over a cutout in the middle.
Old “welding hoods” are literally that. A big leather hood that goes over your whole head with a little fixture to hold the welding lens over your face like snow goggles. They still make this style today for real heavy welding applications
Okay, look, I admit it: I own a welder, but I’m not a welder. My experience shopping for welding masks is limited to places like Harbor Freight and Amazon.com, and the notion of searching for “welding respirator” or “welding PAPR” instead of “welding mask” never crossed my mind until reading this thread.
First tip: we call them “hoods”. As in “drop the hood and get to welding”
A welding mask to me is one of those handheld jobbies my instructor used to use back in welding school. Think clipboard on a stick with a very dark piece of glass over a cutout in the middle.
Old “welding hoods” are literally that. A big leather hood that goes over your whole head with a little fixture to hold the welding lens over your face like snow goggles. They still make this style today for real heavy welding applications