I have wanted to try tig as well. But, I thought I heard that you can shock yourself pretty good with one of those things. Any truth to that?

YUP!!

ANYTHING that is passing electricity will offer the opportunity to get shocked.
I can't remember the last time I got buzzed and it was probably with the fill rod touching the weld puddle the same time as touching my bare arm (not smart, I know).
Heck I have been zapped more times by ignitions systems than anything else in my life.
In other words much ado about nothing.
Get a tig and open up your world to new possibilities.

I've never zapped myself with my mig . So the fill rod is energized when it is youching the puddle? I'm assuming it DOES have to touch the puddle right.

Actually, in my example, the fill rod probably touched the tungsten or close enough. I have filled bare handed without incident. I have laid my bare arm on the bench and gotten tickled before. But as I said, much ado about nothing. It always happens when you first start the puddle and generally that's not much juice so the smart thing to do is to stop and fix the problem, ie appropriate good grounding and clothing. Bad grounding is usually the culprit and the welder him or herself completes the circuit.

You want scary, forgive me Lord, shock?, turn on a dual coil msd 8 while holding on to two of the tester plugs for 5 seconds. Now, that will get your attention. I survived that but do not wish to repeat it.

Ever hear of anyone being electrocuted by the tig process? I haven't and you would think in this internet age of rampant inaccurate stories and conspiracy theories you would think there would be one on at least one on the welding forums.

I would think that if you held the ground in your bare hand and had a bare toe against your steel toed shoe and struck on arc on that steel you might be able to complete a killing circuit. Suicide or stupicide by tig I'm not sure which.

If you haven't gotten zapped by your mig yet you are not likely to be tickled by anything else...or.. you are not using it enough.

Bottom line is still the same, Electricity is being utilized and all the appropriate precautions and procedures must be adhered to. How's that for a caveat?

If you touch the filler rod to the tungsten you can get a tingle...no biggie.

Also, I wear heavier arc welding gloves, not thin single layer tig gloves. The reason for this is I keep my hands close to the torch tip and it offers the best control, but it does get hot trying to finish up a weld bead, so the thicker gloves give more comfort as it's getting hot.

I am also a certified pipe welder,6010/7018 stick for mild steel and tig certified for stainless,and I taught myself both processes and it took alot longer to learn how to stick weld good than it did to TIG weld,with the TIG process you have complete control of the heat input so the only "trick" to it is to learn the mechanics of using your hands and foot togther,or they also offer thumb controls that velcro to the torch so the heat controller is your thumb instead of your foot....once you start TIG welding you will not want to use any other process...come on in the water is fine

Im signing up at the end of the month for a spring class at a local school for the basics, if you really want to learn find a class to go to its the only way I will learn. Ive had access to a tig for 4 years at work and still dont use it.