Safety glasses for forging...

[Forging Carver]

Yeah I am going to get me a pair of uvexs. I think I am going to go with shade 2 rather than 3. 

Even though you have been advised to use at least number 3, you are once again ignoring those that know. 2 isnt enough

[arkie]

9 hours ago, SpankySmith said:

I bought mine on Amazon.  I looked at some local welding shops and quite surprisingly they didn't know what I was talking about when I said I needed some IR glasses!  I think UVEX brand was the one I finally settled on. 

Spanky, thanks for the info on the IR glasses.

[Frosty]

On 1/19/2016 at 11:30 AM, SpankySmith said:

They have liquid, calling it water is a bit of a stretch....

When stretching it does your water snap back if you let go?

So long as there aren't people living too close the only thing you have to worry about here is Beaver fever drinking right out of the river and that's a parasitic worm a simple filter takes care of. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[brother terry]

I did some research and found some safety glasses suitable for uv and infrared rays distributed by ULINE. Search ULINE .com. They are UVEX Horizon safety glasses with a flip up shaded lens for general vision safety. They are designed for welders and they are shade 3 infrared protection. They sell for $40.00. They also have side shields to protect your peripheral vision. I like the idea of being able to flip them up for better visibility when looking around the shop. Especially in dark corners. I use a face mask for protecting my respiratory system so taking them off and on is a pain.

[notownkid]

It isn't just forging or working that will get you hurt.  I was in the middle of a rapid fire string at a High Power Match and my firing pin pierced the primer and let a whole lot of very hot gasses and some burning powder the push through the bolt and hit me square in the face and right eye but I had shooting glasses on  and no damage to the eye but burned the day lights out of my forehead, nose and cheek.  Pitted the glasses so they were ruined but dirt cheap compared to an eye.   looked like I had been hit with a shotgun blast and man that hurt.  That brought the firing line to a halt all 100 shooters.  Lucky it was an Army range and they had medic there and they knew what to do.  You just never know.   Like the Boy Scouts, Be Prepared.

[arkie]

10 hours ago, brother terry said:

I did some research and found some safety glasses suitable for uv and infrared rays distributed by ULINE. Search ULINE .com. They are UVEX Horizon safety glasses with a flip up shaded lens for general vision safety. They are designed for welders and they are shade 3 infrared protection. They sell for $40.00. They also have side shields to protect your peripheral vision. I like the idea of being able to flip them up for better visibility when looking around the shop. Especially in dark corners. I use a face mask for protecting my respiratory system so taking them off and on is a pain.

I searched Uvex's website regarding the Horizon flip-up glasses and nowhere did it specify they were for both UV and IR protection.  The shade 3 and shade 5 glasses for welders are for UV, the main radiation from welding.  Maybe you can point me to a specification showing they are for IR.  The flip-ups would be nice.

[Forging Carver]

What I plan to do is wear clear safety glasses and have tinted glasses attached to one of those neck straps. This way when I am checking the color of my steel and what's going on in the forge, I can hold up the tinted glasses. When I am done and take my steel I can just let go of the tinted glasses and they will be safe on my neck.

Just tinted will ruin your eyes.

[SpankySmith]

You might be surprised by the shade 3's, once you have them on they do not feel so dark that you'd have any reason to take them off.  Lot easier than remembering to flip shades up or down, too.  I put mine on at the beginning of a forge session and never take them off and I'm working in shade under a covered patio.

[Klorinth]

I bought a pair of Shade #3 safety goggles and used them yesterday to do some grinding in the garage. Lights off, big door opened, cloudy day.

I was surprised at how easy it was to see. After a couple minutes I had no problems working, changing disc's, etc.

If these will offer complete protection I might be able to just wear them all the time.

[blackleafforge]

As I have started to forge weld I have noticed the after image of the metal In my eyesight and received a headache after prolonged work. Consequently I have read a lot of info about cobalt blue filter goggles, Didymium glasses, welding goggles and plain sunglasses. What is the general opinion on the best protection?

thanks

did you miss the rest of this thread?

[JHCC]

Personally, I use Uvex safety goggles with a #3 tint, which also protect from flying scale. The only thing is, they change the color of everything, so if you're going to use them (or anything like them), you have to use them all the time. It's fairly easy to adjust to judging temperature by a new set of colors, but not if you keep switching back and forth between tint and no tint.

Plain sunglasses will protect from UV (if properly coated), but not from IR.

[Charlotte]

I invested in #3 tint prescription safety glasses my self.   Most Welding supply stores sell no prescription welding tint safety glasses.  I bought a pair that fits over my civilian prescription glasses recently to use when I visit peoples shops.

[JHCC]

Just now, Charlotte said:

I invested in #3 tint prescription safety glasses my self.   Most Welding supply stores sell no prescription welding tint safety glasses.  I bought a pair that fits over my civilian prescription glasses recently to use when I visit peoples shops.

Yeah, I'm planning on getting some #3 clip-ons myself.

[natenaaron]

Is there something that will go over glasses, besides the clip on variety?  I have used them in the past and they have ended up scratching my lenses.

[JHCC]

These are the ones I use, designed to fit over your glasses.

[Exo313]

So I'm in school for welding, which is fun. There's definitely some overlap between what welders and blacksmiths do, and I'm learning lots regardless.

But... something that came up was eye protection. Apparently, over time, IR radiation given off by hot steel can cause eye damage. I'm still researching, but does anyone have information to hand regarding what sort of glasses should be used to protect from this sort of thing? Obviously, we want eye protection to keep things out of our eyes like bits of metal and scale. 

I've seen some recommend didymium, but realistically, if my reading  of company literature is correct, these -don't- block UV or IR. You can definitely block all the potential nasty stuff with a shade 5 green glass. But that would seem to make things difficult for judging color, etc.

[Glenn]

Go to the welding supply store and get shade 2 or shade 3 welding lenses for use at the forge. I use #3 and can still see to read my notes if needed.

Teach yourself NOT to look at the fire. A quick peek is all that is needed, NOT a constant stare.

[EricJergensen]

You are correct: didymium block a very narrow band of light and do not provide meaningful IR protection. They simply make excessive exposure comfortable :-(.

I use some 3M flip up #3 welding shades on my safety glasses. They are rated for IR protection. #5 is too much for most blacksmithing purposes.

I typically don't use the shades except when forge welding. At other times, I avoid starting into the coal fire (that's surprisingly difficult at first). When I use propane, I flip them down to look into the forge. With coal, I generally count revolutions as I spin my blower to estimate heating so I don't look into the fire much for general heating. With induction heat, I only flip them down for welding heats where I have to really watch the metal.

Judging color is really only a big deal in tempering and I assume the IR output at those temperatures is harmless. For forge welding, the real key is looking at the behavior of the scale. Once it melts, you're there. Also, you can compare to the forge (coal or propane) background. The welding shades affect both the stock and the forge so it's an easy comparison. When the stock is the color of the forge, you're there.  For coal this is the color of a modest blast and can vary a bit. For propane, you've set your forge to the settings you know reach welding heat so it's pretty accurate.

[Steve Sells]

I  do not understand how people can ask for help yet refuse to read the answers in front of their face

[notownkid]

 they didn't get the answer they wanted, like kids repeatedly asking WHY! 

 

[Ben Bell]

Hi All

Being new I appreciate all the advice about safety glasses esp the need for different protection for different jobs, especially ir protection not just uv.

I don't wish to sound rude but some of the previous posts seem to be based on a "well I hope they work...Better than none approach" 

I thought it might be useful to show a chart outlining just how different the protection can be in the different spectrums, even from the same brand.

This info chart below is from Bolle Safety glasses (a world leader in safety glasses perhaps better known in Europe.... polycarbonate, 45m/s Impact Protection etc etc)

(I have no interest in the firm and hope it's ok to post this on the forum, I did a forum search to see if it was against the rules but couldn't find anything, but sorry if it is and will remove if it is an issue)

their website link to the data is

http://www.bolle-safety.com/lenses-and-uses

 

I have used the basic clear ones for home diy (Electric tools etc) costing approx £2.00 and they fit well and a couple of times "stuff" has bounced off them and I use the polarised ones on my boat because if they go for an unathorised swim It doesn't ruin the whole day.

The "welding 1.7 / Ir" ones which seem to be ideal for forge welding (as they allow more visable light) are about £12.00 / $15.00 in uk shops

I feel that our eyes are possibly our second most important organ (you know the most important one ) and at this sort of cost I feel that it's just not worth hoping.

I hope this is helpful

Ben

 

[Ben Bell]

 

Sorry the table didn't show in the above post ( formatting issues which I can't figure out ) however the table is available at the link above and details set out below just in case the link changes....

 

Clear lens: technology approved for permanent wear and certified with perfect optical quality with anti-fog and antiscratch coatings. 99.9% UVA/UVB protection.
Available in acetate (filters 99.9% UVA/UVB, 10% IR), transmits 92% of all visible light.

Yellow comfort lens: technology approved for permanent wear and certified with perfect optical quality, it is designed and used in case of low light situations improving contrast.
With anti-fog and anti-scratch coatings. 99.9% UVA/UVB protection.

Smoke lens: technology approved for permanent wear and certified with perfect optical quality, it is designed and used for excellent protection against UVA/UVB and solar radiation. 99.9% UVA/UVB protection.

Blue flash lens: filters 99.9% UVA/UVB, 90% visible light and 47% IR.

Red flash lens: filters 99.9% UVA/UVB, 87% visible light and 60% IR.

Welding shade 1.7: filters 99.9% UVA/UVB, 54% visible light and 95% IR.
Welding shade 3: filters 99.9% UVA/UVB, 54% visible light and 97% IR.
Welding shade 5: filters 99.9% UVA/UVB, 95% visible light and 99.9% IR.
Available in toughened glass (filters 99.9% UVA/UVB, 98% visible light and 99.9% IR).

IR: filters 99.9% UVA/UVB, 53% visible light and 99% IR

 

as you can see some have no or limited Ir protection and sorry about the length of the 2 posts....

[Tzelik Hammar]

Old thread, but appropriate place to post. Any suggestions on a decent place to pick up prescription safety glasses? Obviously i can Google all day but that won't always lead me to a respectable vendor. I wear glasses full time and have xxxx getting the big safety glasses to stay over them, so I mostly use corner Shields. 

[Frosty]

I wear poly carb safety trifocals with side shields. They're my daily all the time glasses. 

The plastic goggles that fit over glasses and fit snugly to your face are good. They're cheap, about $3.00-$4.00 ea. and stuff doesn't get around them like glasses, or face shield or both together. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Tzelik Hammar]

The big like chemistry goggles?