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I Forge Iron

Safety glasses for forging...


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I wear Shade 3 lenses all the time when I am forging. It is overkill some of the time but I don't have any trouble getting around and seeing what I am doing if there is good lighting. I found the ones below work well clipped over my safety prescription glasses.

 

http://www.amazon.com/3M-Protective-Eyewear-Infrared-40427-00000-10/dp/B007JZ3WOU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1391448335&sr=8-2&keywords=shade+3+flip+up

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If you are talking normal sun glass tiniting...  you need to STOP and read up, because you may be going blind slowly... The problem I am talking about is called retna burn.  Proper filters like  rose-one I wear are actual filters reducing the IR light. Wearing simple tinted glasses are not targeting those wavelengths, so  while they are reducing general light levels, they are causing your iris to open up and allow more of the IR light in.

 

 read up on  eye protecting in the safety section. such as here  '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>>

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i always use my ox ace glasses when forging for the same reason you said - i never use anything else :)

Nevermind about the smith goggles I found the Ace glasses you talking about at Centaur Forge.


Thanks Steve,

I haven't used the oakley glasses for extended periods of time. I just gave them a try to see if it would make a difference. After doing some reading it looks like I am going to be ordering some didydium glasses for sure.
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Hey Steve, 

 

You beat me to the punch.  I was just looking through all of the different didymium glasses and there are tons and tons of them with a huge swing in prices.  I would be using these exclusively with my coal forge since that is all I have at the moment. I may end up getting a gas forge also but that is probably a way off down the road.  

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sorry intrex i missed those - yes - i dont mean ordinary sunnies! but you got that bit now :) mine are also proper welding shades but i can manage with them for the forge and other work like andrew said - in good light they are fine for normal tasks.

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Another practice that prevents IR eye damage is NEVER stare into the fire. Quick glances at regular intervals keeps exposure below damaging thresholds and allows your eyes time to heal from the slight exposures. IR cataracts is another chronic condition that can be caused by watching the forge too much.

 

Good safety glasses are always a good idea. buy them, wear them.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

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Thanks for all of the feedback, 

 

After doing lots of internet research I am kind of surprised at how little definitive information there is about what is actually given off from a forge.  From what I have read by far the most dangerous aspect (other than projectiles) is the IR.  It looks like flares and UV based issues are pretty minimal in coal but may be more of a possible issues on a gas forge with the reflective insulation.  

 

If IR is the main concern it seems like the green shaded welding glasses or any other IR blocking glasses are the best bet for protection.  I also found some really nice glasses that fit like goggles for blocking IR for uses in laboratories with lasers but they are designed for certain wavelengths and I can't find any information about what wavelength IR a coal forge would generally produce.  

 

Do the green shaded glasses change the colors of a heated work piece and the forge fire?  

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The green shade 3 glasses do change the fire and metal color slightly. However, I don't have any problems determining the metal heat. If I flip up the shades to look at the metal with just plain clear safety glasses it is the color that I thought it was. I don't have to interpret it in my mind because what what I am seeing is so close to normal. From reading Beth's comments it sounds like she also does not have any trouble interpreting what she sees.

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i always use my ox ace glasses when forging for the same reason you said - i never use anything else :)

 

Are you using the ACE Green IR filter glasses?  Those were the only ones I could find that were IR filtering and none of them were under $100.  Is the main advanced with using the ACE glasses that the colors are supposed to be more realistic?  It seems like a steep price to pay unless their is a huge difference in image quality.  If I buy them it will be more than I paid for my Pole Vice :).

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  • 2 months later...

As my brother, father and engineering teacher all said, you can walk with a plastic leg, lift with a plastic arm, but you can't see with a plastic eye, it's been said a hundred times and will be said a hundred times more, safety glasses, I have it as a policy when working to carry two glasses with me, when I see someone without glasses drilling, grinding, hammering, etc. etc. I put mine on and hand the glasses to him/her and tell them to return them to my locker at the end of the day and get their own

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  • 1 month later...

Here's a pretty good story I think everyone should read about safety glasses

 

LINK removed at Jock request, he does not want any links to his site posted (I have no clue why)

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Mephitus and other who wear glasses.

There are "over glasses" available at industrial safety supply locations. They will fir over the glasses and provide side shield protection. I normally (can't think of the particular brand's) use a glasses strap and remove the earpiece, replacing with a glasses strap. That then holds the over glasses on comfortably and snugly, when doing things necessitating the use of safety glasses.

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  • 1 month later...

I have a friend who is an ophthalmologist and opthalmological surgeon; when he heard I did smithing he had a long talk with me about eye hazards: foreign body is the greatest hazard; followed by IR, UV is pretty much squat unless you are arc welding.  Out here in NM you get more from the sunlight than you do from a forge in a shady shop!

 

As far as radiation goes---don't forget that coal is radioactive!

yeah i think this is more of a concern than IR and UV. 

 

epa article:

 

http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/tenorm/coalandcoalash.html

 

oak ridge national labs article:

 

http://web.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev26-34/text/colmain.html

 

wikipedia on fly ash:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_ash

 

wikipedia on radiation and radiation exposure with sample equivalents to varied radiation doses:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millisievert

 

wikipedia on radio active waste featuring coal as a primary constituent:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_waste

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Like alpha, beta, gamma? At those kind of concentrations?

 

Not saying they're so low as to completely ignore, but on that end, you'd be looking at more serious health consequences fom metal contaminants in the smoke, carbon monoxide, and lung irritation from the sulfides, toxins, ash and coal tars. Standing directly next to a burning coal fire can't be healthy for you, even with a good hood, but note that I don't go running for my respirator.

 

Lots of things are bad for you. Beer contains numerous known carcinogens, but they don't put cigarette style warning labels on that yet, do they? (except for the pregnancy one, i know...)

 

Unless you're Madam Curie, the Hulk, or livning beneath the smokestack of a coal plant, I wouldn't worry too much about gamma radiation from the coal.

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Actually I've talked with a fellow who is involved in radioactive experimentation and does some smithing too.  He once found a lump of coal from a mine in Colorado that was definitely *hot* when he was playing around with one of his meters.  Much higher in radioactivity than the rest of the bucket.  I wondered how close that mine was to a point bar type deposit...

 

My criteria for when to worry is when something exceeds the risk I take everyday riding to work; lower than that and then the *worry* is probably more of an issue.  Higher than that and I'd best be not doing it---unless the payoff is worth the added risk.

 

My economic geology professor showed us pictures from a uranium deposit he worked on where the rock was warm to the touch from radioactive decay and it was actually considered hazardous to spend much time close to the mine face.

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Hello all,

 

I have been doing a little bit of research and a little bit of internet shopping for good safety glasses for blacksmithing. There hasn't been a strong consensus I've seen on the internet so I was hoping for some help. I have read that shade #3 and up are good for blocking out the IR light that can be dangerous but at high shade levels it's hard to see what's going on. I have also read some stuff on Didymium, but again they said you can hardly see the color of what you're working. It also seems popular that it's only necessary for forge welding. Up until this point, I have been using the standard yellow ones, what I call shooting glasses. What spurred this on is I'm concerned however that it may not be good to stare into the fire. As I'm new I have a tendency to baby it and constantly watch whatever I have in there. My REAL question is, is it even necessary to have any eye protection BEYOND physical protection? i.e. IR, UV, etc. If so, what do you guys use? Thanks for taking the time to help.

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Almost all safety glasses protect you from basic UV light. I'd have to look a bit into if they also block a lot of IR radiation. I know some designed for welding use do, but they are usually tinted for cutting.

 

That's not to say that you can simply start at an arc weld while wearing clear safety glasses, since the bright light itself will still be an issue, but you won't get the scratchy itchy feeling if you just get flashed a few times before you can get your hood down.

 

Always wear safety glasses.  I wear prescription glasses all the time, and I get the vast majority of my glasses set up as safety glasses, so I never have to think about it. In fact, I'm looking at updating my current prescription right now and getting a new set, since I broke one lens in my normal set a few weeks back.

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I've been wearing the green #3 safety glasses since I first started blacksmithing. Macular degeneration runs in my family and I'm a stickler about even wearing sunglasses whenever I'm outdoors...not taking any chances with my vision. I strongly disagree that the green shades stop you from seeing what's going on. The only time I even really notice I have them on is if I happen to step indoors for a while (mine is an outdoor shop). Generally speaking I try to not stare into the flame a lot, but like you I'm new to this so I find myself checking a good bit. The green protects against IR, which I understand is the bigger danger than UV. They're your eyes...how fond are you of vision? How much do you value still having it a few years down the road? Forge on and have fun doing it, but it's not a craft where you can afford to toss caution to the wind. As they say, protect the parts you want to keep.

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