Subject: Re: safety glasses

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 2 Mar 1996 17:40:50 -0500

>I've noticed a lot of people forging and other machine practices
>without safety glasses lately especially in a class I am taking. The
>flying metal objects are obvious but how much added danger is there
>because of the extreme temperature? Does the heat caterize or bake part
>of the eye? Does anyone have any horror stories I can pass along?
>
>Thanks
>
>Marc3

       Marc, there are many types of infared and UV radiation coming off of
the refractory when It glows from the heat, kind of like a microwave for
the eyes. Dont have any horror stories though,but hell, eyeballs and
microwaves-it practically writes it self.  I think I'll go stare into the
sun for awhile.

____________________________________________________________________________
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skunkwerks studio      specializing in                              K
Helfrich
vox 216/371.2937       exploring and exploiting                       T
Seiber
fax 216/371.2937       any and all materials                      M VanWagoner
____________________________________________________________________________
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From: [email-masked] (Maeve McMahon)
Date: Sat, 2 Mar 96 21:57:03 EST

> Always wear you safety goggles! I am recovering from a very minor yet in
my way injury. A small piece of scale decided to camp out on my eyeball.
Try forging in 2-D. Or better yet don't!

Michael Kinghorn

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From: Steve Smith <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 96 9:54:55 MST

Infared (IR) and Ultraviolet (UV) 

The article that Clay refers to in Anvil's Ring has created a bit of
misunderstanding. The danger to your eyes from staring into a forge
comes from IR, not from UV.

Forges put out a LOT of IR. The energy in the invisible IR is 20 to 30
times the amount of visible light. That's a lot of stuff to dump into
your eye. My eye doctor says that the chief danger is cataracts.
People in this group have earlier also mentioned 'dry eye syndrome'.

Forges do not put out any appreciable amount of UV. There are sound
physical reasons for this--the temperature is nowhere near high enough
to produce UV. If you aren't happy with this answer and want to
protect yourself against UV anyway, almost any safety goggle (clear)
stops more than 99% of UV (just the way platics work). Don't waste
your money buying gold plated glasses from the guy who wrote the
article in Anvil's Ring.

A good way to block IR is to wear a light shade of welding goggle, #2
or #3. If you want the spec's, look up ANSI Z87.1 on eye protection.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Didyum glasses

Didyum (or however you spell that) glasses absorb the bright yellow
color that sodium gives off when it burns. They were developed for use
in the glass making industry. They can help you see into a coal fire.
Didyum glasses do not block IR, and are not intended to.

--
Steve Smith
[email-masked]