I bought these on the recommendation of my welding instructor. Initially, I started with expensive gloves that I bought at a large hardware store nearby. This was my first beginner welding lesson and it was pure pole welding. A very important piece of advice that I did not understand is that when welding with an electrode, you need gloves with threads that are not visible. The gloves I bought from the hardware store were expensive, but all the carvings around the fingers were visible from the outside. When you start welding with an electrode and sparks fly, such gloves will eventually melt or burn the exposed outer threads. Then the gloves literally fall apart, which happened to me on the first day of class. I've learned that open-threaded gloves are better for MIG welding. My teacher recommended them to me, so I ordered them. The filament is not exposed and has survived 9 sessions of 6 hours of continuous welding per session. My gloves have burn marks and slag from all the welding but they're still in great condition and haven't fallen apart at all. As for some of the comments about the gloves hardening or deforming. It happened a bit with one of the fingers on my gloves, but it was when I put the wand on one of the fingers of the glove as I passed it through the weld. Of course, the wand is insanely hot, which in turn "cooks" the skin, making it stiff or deformed. I don't think any leather glove can withstand such temperatures and nothing will happen to them. Most importantly, even after welding, the glove still held up, didn't burn through or fall apart. So I think it worked well given the violence. It looks like it will be a long time before I need to replace these welding gloves but when I do I will order them again.