Once upon a time, I took a metalworking class at adult ed. There were a couple of artists there doing metal sculpture. One of them put her sculpture right in the middle of the shop and she would strike an arc at random times, even when hands-on instruction was given. Eventually, some of us complained to her, and we were sharply reminded to "keep our eyes where they belong". Probably, she was used to being the center of attention and did not give a care about anybody she did not feel like warning.
I picked up a trick from an old timer which worked pretty well. Wear a pair of flash goggles. If in doubt, use the lightest shade IR & UV goggles possible. Also, 99% + wrap around polycarbonate sports sunglasses work well. Some people had their doubts, but I chucked a pair on to a Beckman spectrophotometer, and it had excellent near UV protection. A couple of seconds of flash is OK at 50 feet, and 99% will get you in to 5 feet with the same exposure. It absolutely got rid of the "sand in the eyes" problem, but you still saw stars and cursed the self-absorption of the inconsiderate flashers under your breath. Polycarbonate sunglasses are shade 1 or 2, so just add that to your welding glass. For example, if you normally use a 10, you can use the 8 with these glasses and just leave them on all the time. Just watch out for the tripping hazard.
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