Subject: Re: safety glasses

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 2 Mar 1996 13:14:22 -0500

In a message dated 96-03-02 11:49:40 EST, [email-masked] (George Dixon)
writes:

>
>All I know is that after having a microscope stuck in my face so a piece of
>scale (very sharp on edge) could be surgically removed from my eye

All this small stuff comes at your eyes in so many unexpected ways.  I'll
pass this along because who would'a thought'a?
Grinding some weld areas using a carbide burr on an overhead piece once, I
had one of those eye experiences too.  I was useing a face shield and cap for
covering and because of the nature of the sharp slivers that some carbide
tips deliver, was unusually cautious.  However, when I had stopped, then
tilting the face shield up out of the way, I recieved a fierce eyeful of
these slivers full blast.  They came from a ledge that was designed into the
face shield itself, and held this stuff waiting for an accident to happen.
 It's one of those things that we sometimes overlook or fail to think of when
we are taking normal precautions.  So sometimes we even have to check out our
own safety devices which can be the actual cause of an unsafe practice.
 Needless to say, there were extensive eye operations as George has had.
Chris Ray

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From: [email-masked] (Thomas Boudreau)
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 1996 00:33:19 -0400

>All this small stuff comes at your eyes in so many unexpected ways. 

    An important suject, one I can relate to.. I was one of the luckier ones..
Just hammering on a piece, wearing a pair of safety glasses (too small) and
got a piece in the eye. Although I had to be driven to a hospital, 20 miles
away,  it was just a small burn on my eyeball, painfull but it healed.

    I teach younger kids, 12 to 15,  and the first rule is... don't burn
yourself....the second is, wear the [proper] glasses. If you do a lot of
welding you should also wear protective, tinted glases,.. a good apron..
steel toed boots.. and those gloves.. I wished I wore those gloves!!

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From: [email-masked] (Clay Spencer)
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 1996 13:21:22 -0500

>steel toed boots.. and those gloves.. I wished I wore those gloves!!

There was a very enlightening article in ABANA's The Anvil's Ring, Volume
23, No 1, Summer 1995, page 6-8, about the protection various types of
coatings and glasses give.
Brief summary:
Only gold gives the protection needed against UV and IR.
Apparently Didymium is not as good as previously thought.

At 8:36 PM 3/1/96, Marc Davis III wrote:
>I've noticed a lot of people forging and other machine practices
>without safety glasses  Does the heat caterize or bake part
>of the eye? Does anyone have any horror stories I can pass along?

I don't remember the details, but if metal embedded in the eyeball is not
removed promptly (I think we are talking in terms of less than 2 days), it
rusts and then the real problems set in.

Clay

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From: [email-masked] (jeramo)
Date: Sun, 03 Mar 1996 09:09:45 -0800

>>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
>>Thanks

Quote: "If you don't think eyes are worth taking care of, ask someone who
has one."

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From: [email-masked] (jeramo)
Date: Sun, 03 Mar 1996 09:14:40 -0800

>steel toed boots.. and those gloves.. I wished I wore those gloves!!
You might be interested in Dr. H's story about wearing "tinted" glasses for
welding.  If you're talking about heat welding in a forge, the last thing
you want to do is wear ordinary tinted glasses.  The ordinary tinted glasses
offer no protection against infra-red, in fact they cause the pupil to
dilate allowing more of that harmful radiation to enter the eye than normal.
Infra-red protection can be had in safety glasses though.  They are called
dydium (sp) glasses and cost about $70 more.

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 1996 09:23:16 -0700 (MST)

Hi all, it took many, maybe 6 incedents, for me to learn the lesson.
Sometimes I waited a couple of days because I couldn't tell if I had
removed the particle or not and the irritation was caused only by a
residual burn. If the irritation continues, you know you didn't get it out,
so not only is the pieced removed with sharp pics or actually cut out, but
the surrounding area is scraped to remove vision impairing rust stains. It
isn't very painful, not many nerves at that level in the eye, but
definitely unpleasant.  Now I wear around my neck at all times, when in my
studio, a pair of safety glasses.  I don't have to look for them anymore,
get fed up, and say "to hell with it" or "I'm just going to do a little bit
here and I can get away with it(not using eye protection)"  Sometimes you
get with it and sometimes you don't.  What kind of gambler are you?
Tom

goodonya
[email-masked]

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From: "David C. Hufford" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 05 Mar 1996 09:34:57 -0500 (EST)

If I might add my tale:  I was a *non-believer* until I was clipping the 
slag from a arc weld and a piece hit me in the corner of the eye.  It 
was very hot and stuck there.  Needless to say, I sustained a fine burn. 
I was fortunate it didn't strike the eye itself.  After that, I wear eye 
protection AT ALL TIMES in the shop.  I like the idea mentioned earlier 
(I've forgotten who posted it) about using a full-face shield - this 
practice has much to recommend it.  I do wear a face shield in certain 
operations, such as using a wire wheel, as I've had stray wires embed 
themselves in my face and neck.  I suppose the bottom line is you cannot 
be too careful.

David C. Hufford