Revenues from external customers attributed to all foreign countries in total from which the entity derives revenues.

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Amount of expenses, net of asset impairments and gains or losses on sale of assets, associated with exit or disposal activities pursuant to an authorized plan. Excludes expenses related to a discontinued operation or an asset retirement obligation.

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No definition available.

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This element represents adjustments to earnings before interest and taxes attributable to special item charges and gains allocable to the entity's segments.

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No definition available.

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Gain resulting from the sale of assets during the period associated with rationalization activities.

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No definition available.

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Amount of write-down of assets recognized in the income statement. Includes, but is not limited to, losses from tangible assets, intangible assets and goodwill.

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- Definition

For an entity that discloses a concentration risk in relation to quantitative amount, which serves as the "benchmark" (or denominator) in the equation, this concept represents the concentration percentage derived from the division.

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Revenue from the sale of land in the reporting period.

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Number of operating segments. An operating segment is a component of an enterprise: (a) that engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses (including revenues and expenses relating to transactions with other components of the same enterprise), (b) whose operating results are regularly reviewed by the enterprise's chief operating decision maker to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its performance, and (c) for which discrete financial information is available. An operating segment may engage in business activities for which it has yet to earn revenues, for example, start-up operations may be operating segments before earning revenues.

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The charge against earnings resulting from the write down of long lived assets other than goodwill due to the difference between the carrying value and lower fair value.

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The percentage of LIFO (last in first out) inventory to total inventory as of the balance sheet date if other than 100 percent.

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No definition available.

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Amount of expenses associated with exit or disposal activities pursuant to an authorized plan. Excludes expenses related to a discontinued operation or an asset retirement obligation.

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The aggregate amount provided for estimated restructuring charges, remediation costs, and asset impairment loss during an accounting period. Generally, these items are either unusual or infrequent, but not both (in which case they would be extraordinary items).

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SEGMENT INFORMATION (Textual) (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended							12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Sep. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2013	Mar. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Sep. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2013 segment	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011
Financial information for the reportable segments
Restructuring charges								$ 3,658	$ 7,615
Number of operating segments (segments)								5
Percentage of total inventories valued using the LIFO method (as a percent)	38.00%				34.00%			38.00%	34.00%	31.00%
Special items
Special items, net charges for rationalization actions	259	1,627	851	1,051	5,037	3,059	1,258	8,463	9,354	282
Special items charge (Gain)								21,366	10,735	282
Special items, gain (loss) on the sale of assets at a rationalized operation								156
Asset Impairment Charges								4,961
Europe Welding
Financial information for the reportable segments
Restructuring charges								1,765	3,637
Special items
Restructuring Charges Net										188
Special items charge (Gain)								2,045	3,534	392
Special items, gain (loss) on the sale of assets at a rationalized operation									103	(204)
Asia Pacific Welding
Financial information for the reportable segments
Restructuring charges								841	3,151	93
Special items
Restructuring Charges Net								922
Other Asset Impairment Charges		4,675						4,444
Land Sales	705							705
Special items charge (Gain)								6,071	4,993	(110)
Special items, gain (loss) on the sale of assets at a rationalized operation								154		203
Asset Impairment Charges								235	1,842
South America Welding
Special items
Special items, net charges for rationalization actions							1,381
Special items charge (Gain)			2,538	9,660				12,198	1,381	0
The Harris Products Group
Financial information for the reportable segments
Restructuring charges								0	0
Special items
Special items charge (Gain)								0	0	0
North America Welding
Financial information for the reportable segments
Restructuring charges								1,052	827
Special items
Special items charge (Gain)								1,052	827	0
United States
Special items
EntityWideDisclosureOnGeographicAreasRevenueFromExternalCustomersAttributedToForeignCountries1								$ 260,195	$ 268,331	$ 242,380
Revenues \| Customer concentration risk \| Maximum
Special items
Percentage of concentration of credit risk not met other than separately disclosed								10.00%	10.00%	10.00%