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I Forge Iron

Safety glasses for forging...


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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.

 

 

I really prefer safety glasses with an indoor/outdoor tint.  Ouside in full sun a darker tint in needed.  Shade three is when you really intend on staring into the forge. B)

Thanks guys. I also saw the forum posts about similar stuff on here and it seems like shade 3 is more than enough for anything I'd be doing.

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I got the shade 3 and it's not too dark to see with. I have some shade 5 for use with an Ocy-Acetylene torch and that's way too dark for blacksmithing.

 

I noticed my eyes aren't as tired after a day at the forge wearing the shade 3's.  I really recommend them for everything but heat treating because the tint interferes with color rendering. 

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No significant UV from a forge. The IR can cause cataracts so don't stare into the forge. Keeping an eye on things doesn't require you to stare into the forge.

 

You're brain can adapt and adjust to almost anything from rattle snake venom to the smell of a hockey bag so wear a comfortable shade safety glasses and practice with them. It won't be too long before you can judge forging temperature with them on.

 

Didymium is pretty useless at the forge, it only filters sodium yellow, so only reduces the glare from Borax flame a little. Not much good unless you do glass torch work.

 

So, that's my 2 bits, glance into the forge for a couple seconds every 30 seconds or so and the IR won't be shining through your lenses long enough to do them much if any damage. (That's what my optometrist said a few years ago anyway.) Forget UV unless you're using a carbon arc as a forge. If so, ask at the welding supply.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

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When I looked into it OSHA guildelines indicated that Shade 3 tint was for IR protection.  My safety glasses came with a warning that specifically said they are not UV protective so don't wear them as sunglasses.

 

I asked two ophthalmologists and a PPE guy what I should wear for forging- none of them had a clue.

 

Here's the OSHA link

https://www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3151.html

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When I looked into it OSHA guildelines indicated that Shade 3 tint was for IR protection.  My safety glasses came with a warning that specifically said they are not UV protective so don't wear them as sunglasses.

 

I asked two ophthalmologists and a PPE guy what I should wear for forging- none of them had a clue.

 

Here's the OSHA link

https://www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3151.html

 

I'll ask him again next time I'm in. Since the accident and then the shingles, I had to change ophthalmologists for one who is also an ophthalmologist/neurologist and doctor W. specialized in industrial eye injuries as well. It's a long list of "other" stuff he does but folk come out to the valley from Anchorage for consults. He sounded pretty sure but I may have misunderstood or been swayed bu the wall of certs.

 

Anyway, I'll ask more specifically next visit. Eyes are too important to make judgements based on what I THINK he said/meant.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 7 months later...

i am wearing the bolle 1.7 shade and i am not confident that they provide the protection needed because after two years of wearing them, i don't feel comfortable looking at the fire with them. when i stare at the fire my eyes start to move a bit faster actually but the thing with me is that i have 0.5 astigmatism and because i cannot wear my astigmatism glasses while forging that might be the reason why my eyes get a bit shaky which later causes a dizzy kind of effect. does anyone have any advice on this? is there some way that i can put the prescription of 0.5 astigmatism on the safety googles i wear at work? i prefer the shade 1.7 because i can see very clearly with the shade 3 its a bit tough to wear them because i don't see very well due to the darkness they have.. i feel more comfortable with the lighter shade but i am worried that they might not offer the protection needed.  

Edited by santisandreas
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Do NOT stare into the fire. The IR can cause Cataracts. Keeping an eye on your irons is one thing, staring into the forge is something else entirely. There is NO UV from your forge, if your coal or propane forge were generating UV the light would look like a welding arc not as intense maybe but the light would be blue white.

I wear trifocals and don't have prescription sun glasses. I have flip up dark lenses. You can shield your eyes from the fire if you just can't help staring into it and flip them up to forge so you can see detail in the lower light levels on the anvil.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

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I wear the green shade 3's also, got mine at Amazon, Uvex brand, very comfy.  Macular degeneration runs in my family so I'm extra particular about my peeps.  Interestingly when I had my last routine eye appointment I asked my doctor about any special protection, specifically IR protection for what I was doing - he had no clue whatsoever.  He was familiar with standard eye protection, did a lot of industrial work but surprisingly because there is a HUGE steel mill nearby, he didn't know anything about IR or fire or forge work.  hmmmm, guess they leave that out of the curriculum these days for eye doctors. 

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  • 8 months later...

Sledgehammer Chipping Failure


Richard Garber, S.E.A., Inc.


From: Handbook of Case Histories in Failure Analysis, Vol 1, K.A. Esakul, Ed., ASM International, 1992


Abstract: A sledge hammer chipped during use. The chip struck a by stander in the eye, leading to its loss. The hammerhead surface was examined visually, nondestructively (magnetic particle method), and stereo microscopically, and a microstructural analysis of a cross section of the head was conducted using optical microscope. Chemical composition of the hammerhead was determined by emission spectrometry. The chemical compositions of the chip and hammer head were compared using energy-dispersive analysis. Microhardness versus distance from the striking face was also determined. The hammerhead material was UNS G10800 (AISI/SAE grade 1080). Excessive hardnesses were measured in the first 3 mm (0. 12 in.) below the striking surface, indicating that there was lack of control during the final tempering operation.

Keywords: Hammers; Impact

Material: 1080 (Nonresulfurized carbon steel), UNS G10800


Failure types: Brittle fracture; Heat treating-related failures; Spalling wear


Circumstances leading to failure

Two 16-year-olds were using a maul to split wood. The maul became stuck in a log. To free the maul, one young man struck it with a sledgehammer. A metal chip flew off and hit the other young man in the eye.

 

 

http://products.asminternational.org/fach/data/fullDisplay.do?database=faco&record=1096&search=

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Shut both eyes and tell me what you see.

Now shut only one eye and test your depth perception.  How long before you open that eye up again?

You have a choice NOW before something happens and you wish you had used safety glasses. Easier and more convenient to protect your vision that try to compensate for lack of vision.

 

 

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Just had cataract surgery on both eyes. After 65 years of wearing glasses I don't need them any more. To say the least I was tickled pink. I had to grind some steel, as I started to grind I realized that I no longer had eye protection. I began to think back over the years how my prescription glasses had saved my eyes. Even with the glasses I had two incidents of getting metal in my eye. I now have two pair of soft plastic goggles and a face shield. I got the face shield at HF for $3. Be safe.

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Honestly out of 14 years in the Autobody field i've had 2 trips to the eye doctor to get metal out of my eye. both times were while wearing safety glasses, as air tools blow particles around. I have had close calls while not wearing them and alot of rust in my eyes i've been able to get out luckily. YES wear eye protection. recently while wire wheeling rust off of pieces for scrap art i've had a couple pieces of the wire hit me and it was an eye opener. now i wear my leather apron and safety glasses and a face shield Every time. if i lost my sight i dont know what i would do. not worth it when the safety measures are so cheap compared.

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Driving a splitting wedge with a sledge hammer isn't abuse, it's how they're intended to be driven. The sledge had probably been used on all kinds of hard objects for who knows how long, I've busted granite boulders with one and may have damaged it. I never thought about it but I always wear eye protection.

I've had debris bounce off me, the inside of my face shield and hit me hard enough to sting or leave a mark. Once a real long shot ended up in my eye after a last carom off the inside of my glasses.

I think the safety goggles that contact all round are probably best but . . .

Frosty The Lucky.

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I agree Frosty, splitting wedges are made to be hit, but they were using a maul. Now I know some of my axes are soft enough to hit but I prefer not to, however my maul is hard. I doubt I could split a shard off a sledge on a soft axe unless I had damaged the sledge previously. My point being safety glasses are no substitute for working in an safe manor,

That shard could have been a large chunk, large enough to cause more damage if it had of hit the lad somewhere critical......no safety glasses I know of protect your wedding tackle or the artery in your neck.

PPI is the second line of protection, the first is knowledge. the less knowledge you have the more likely you are to need the PPI.

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Many moons ago, when I was much younger and dumber, I had to get a tiny sliver from a splitting wedge (or maybe the sledgehammer head, IDK) taken out of my eye by an Ophthalmologist on a weekend, no fun at all. For what it costs for a hour of his time on a Sunday, you can buy a lifetime supply of safety glasses. I am now the school safety nazi, and will gladly show my scars, and tell my horror stories to students, if it makes them wear PPE.

At least one Instructor I know at JC Campbell Folk School had to make an after hours trip to the local emergency room to get a piece of a mushroomed chisel out of his hand. It went in at an angle and tunneled, they had to locate it with a rare earth magnet. To add financial insult to injury, it was his magnet, and they charged him for sterilizing it!

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On July 30, 2014 at 2:57 PM, ThomasPowers said:

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.

So what do you recommend doing to limit contact of the radiation to out body?

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A welder wears a hood, throat protection, sleeves, gloves, chaps, and steel toed work boots. As stated above the UV and IR is much more intense during welding than you would most likely run into at a forge.

if you are concerned wear a hood, throat protection, sleeves, gloves, chaps, and steel toed work boots. Over protection is better than under protection.

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