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Gloves are an important safety aspect of every hobbyist’s tasks. They not only protect your hands from typical injuries like cuts and scrapes, but the appropriate gloves can protect you from burns, UV rays and more. For those of us who enjoy turning wrenches, a good set of gloves will offer a combination of dexterity, grip and protection. For those of us who also like to weld, an added degree of protection is required from high heat and UV ray exposure.
Miller is known in the industry as one of the very best makers of welding equipment, but they also make welding and metal working accessories such as gloves, helmets, bibs, aprons and much more. They recently sent us three different sets of their new gloves to put to the test.
- The Metalworker – a general-purpose mechanic glove / hobbyist glove with soft goat skin.
- The Combo Welder – a general purpose welding glove designed for use with MIG and ARC welding.
- The TIG Welder – designed solely for TIG welding applications, made with soft goatskin leather and ergonomically curved fingers.
The Miller Metalworker Glove Review
I have been using the Miller Metalworker gloves for about 5 weeks now and they have seen duty doing grinding, metal fabrication, hand tool usage, air tool usage, working on hot exhausts, and lifting / carrying items throughout our shop. The Metalworker glove is designed to be a general-purpose mechanic’s glove, much like the brand Mechanix (and others) make. Miller sets themselves apart from their competitors with these gloves by offering a very soft and dexterous goatskin palm equipped with additional padding in the areas of your palm that take the most abuse. Miller has also reinforced the glove in key areas to increase the durability of the glove.
| Miller Metalworker Glove (Non-Welding Glove) Review |
| Dexterity |
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| Grip |
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| Protection |
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| Comfort |
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| Durability |
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| UV Protection |
N/A |
| Heat Protection |
These gloves are not designed for high-heat or welding use. |
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The Verdict
What didn’t we like about it? The gloves are called “Metalworkers”, but the PVC plastic top portions of the fingers will not stand up to heavy use of a grinder, where hot sparks are hitting them. They started to melt after about 5 minutes of use. The white leather looks great at first, but gets dirty quickly. I also have mixed feelings regarding the Velcro strap on the wrist. If you plan on taking your gloves on and off a lot during a job we would prefer to have no strap or an elastic band instead, but this wouldn’t prevent us from buying another set.
Welding and grinding aside, the Miller Metalworker gloves are hard to beat for general mechanic and hobbyist work around the shop. They are more comfortable and provide better grip and dexterity than other brands (Mechanix, Craftsman, etc.) that we have used over the years. They provide better heat protection than we anticipated as I recently found out while working on a hot exhaust system. I also had to do a small MIG welding job and didn’t have any proper welding gloves, yet the Miller Metalworker gloves provided surprisingly excellent heat protection. The padded palm makes carrying heavy objects more comfortable. These gloves are also quite affordable in comparison to other brands, making them quite a bargain. At only $15-$17 a set, we will be buying more of these gloves for sure.
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The Miller TIG Welder Glove Review
I have been using the Miller TIG Welder gloves for several weeks now doing a variety of TIG welding on both aluminum and mild steel. The TIG Welder glove is a light-duty glove designed specifically for TIG welding and TIG welding only. Made with super soft and supple goatskin leather, this glove has fingers that are cut in a bent fashion to make holding TIG welding wire/rod easy. These gloves are also designed to provide far greater dexterity than MIG / ARC welding gloves so that TIG wire can be more easily fed into the welding puddle. They have a high glove bib/apron that extends about 8 inches up your arm to provide additional UV and heat protection. The gloves are also sewn with 100% Kevlar thread for extra seam strength. This is all in addition to the Miller glove reinforcements in key areas to provide extended life.
| Miller TIG Welder Glove Review |
| Dexterity |
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| Grip |
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| Protection |
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| Comfort |
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| Durability |
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| UV Protection |
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| Heat Protection |
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The Verdict
What didn’t we like about it? A few things; First, the stitching inside the glove is uncomfortable and digs into your hand. After 30 minutes of wearing these gloves the seams were making the side of my palms very uncomfortable. The TIG gloves could also use more heat protection too. If you plan on TIG welding with a high amperage setting, be prepared to switch to another set of gloves, or work in short sessions as these gloves just don’t offer the heat protection needed. A layer of INDURA flame-resistant cotton that comes with the Miller Combo welding gloves could be sewn into the inside of the TIG gloves to provide more heat protection.
However, we like the Miller TIG Welder glove mostly for its grip and dexterity. The goatskin leather is thin and supple enough to enable you to pick up a TIG rod that has fallen on the floor more easily than with a traditional, heavy duty MIG / ARC welding glove. The fingers are fashioned with a curve built into them, so holding thin TIG wire/rod is easy enough to do and doesn’t cramp your fingers after hours of use. The UV protection on these gloves is superb, as the glove apron / bib comes up the forearm quite adequately.
If you are welding with a low-to-medium amperage setting or doing small jobs, these are an excellent set to have with your TIG welder. If you are doing long welding jobs or jobs with high amperage setting that generate a lot of heat, you should look at something with a bit more heat protection. At $19-$20 a set, these are good TIG gloves to have for small to medium sized jobs.
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