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I Forge Iron

Rust ring in my eye!


metalworker77

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I just came back from the hospital; I had to have a steel filling dug out of the center of my eye. I still have to get the rust ring burred out. I would just like to say that any protective wear that looks like any sort of designer sunglasses suck for angle grinding! The only way to go is with those cheep ones that are sealed all the way around top and bottom, they are cheaper and look dorky; but are the only ways to go. The other may be ok for forging, but not for use with the angle grinder.

Bye, the way

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If you are going to wear safety glasses for grinding, I recommend either tight fitting goggles over them or a full face shield. I have also had a piece of steel taken out of my eye that came up under the safety glasses.

Woody

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Using a die grinder with a carbide burr last saturday bounced a nasty curved bit of steel around my safety glasses. I was lucky that it didn't stick in the eye but rode in the mucus under the eyelid and I was able to take it out using a scary poweful disk drive magnet I keep in the medicine chest for such purposes.

Unfortunately that was about 100 miles away from where it happened.

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And if you live in saftey glasses like I do... Don't let the little girl at the optomitrists talk you into small stylish glasses even if you can get polycarbonate safety lens... I also had to have a rust ring removed by an opthomologist, with the coolest micro dremel... But I didn't get stung by a grinder, I got hot scale adherd to my eye, not something I would recommend to anyone... ;-)

Protect only the parts of your body you would like to keep, and have full use of for the rest of your life...

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  • 1 month later...

Just short warning I once had to take my daughter to Doc the remove metal sliver out of her eye. I believe she got from my clothes. Because she was never near my job at the time. It also had a rust ring.


Larry McCollum

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Finn, I cannot for the life of me understand why the infobabes that sell you glasses at the glasses place try and discourage you from buying polycarbinate lenses. Good quality safety glasses with side shields are the thing and like Woody sez, face shield ( Jackson makes an excellent one that you can swap clear for shaded ) for ugly work. I have made more than one trip to have steel and grinding wheel dug out of my eyes and no it is not fun.

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Can any of the EMT's or medical professionals give us advice on how to best get from the injury to the hospital without causing more damage?

Covering the eye keeps you from rubbing the eye and causing further damage. I have heard that with an eye injury, it is best to cover both eyes so the injured eye does not "track" with the good eye. With both eyes covered there would seem to be less eye movement and less additional injury.

Again, this is only something I have heard and it seems to make sense. Are there any medical professionals out there that address the subject of what to do to keep the injury to a minimum till we can get to the hospital?

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Uncoated polycarbonate scratches easily so the infobabes may be thinking about warranty or liability. Acrylic won't scratch easily but is brittle.

Coated polycarb is what you want since the base material is practically unbreakable under impact but the coating makes it more resistant to damage.

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Well they keep telling me that if I would go to a smaller lens that my glasses wouldn't be so heavy---I still get them as big as I can find them and keep my old pairs to show people *why*.

Thomas---I do take them off to Shower---when I get to that part of the body...I used to be able to get "cable temples" that curved WAY around the ear so I could swim wearing them...

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If someone has a connection for old style frames ( think Roy Orbison or ZZ Top ) please post it. Wayfarer makes them, I know. Large nylon frames is what I want. Non prescription lenses can then be added ( Thank you H Wooldridge for the explanation on coating, had forgotten that ). Side shields can of course be added as well. Work supplies safety glasses ( disposable ) that are wrap around style. Cheap I'm sure but rated properly. Light refracts differently with this type of lens. Inside a helmet, things look different. Flat lens is better for me ( and really works better for me. Welding supplier formerly had old style but no longer carries ( and cannot find supplier ). What I want is gonzo size like Thomas speaks of. Fashion is not my goal. Military issue glasses would work but I have not looked into suppliers for that venue. Thanks in advance.

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Glenn, yes, covering the affected eye does work. Sometimes covering both eyes works better. This of course will be difficult to explain to the officer when he stops you in traffic on the way to the hospital. John Wayne attitude is not really a good way to go but of course neither is whining. situations arise. If you NEED help by all means get help ( meaning 911 here in the states ). Stopping what you are doing ( I am as busy as anyone ) and assessing the situation should be the first order of business. In camp ( which may be miles away from medical facilities ) this order of business still applies. As some of us know, something in the eye is an experience based thing. Most times the FOD extracts itself through natural tear flooding. Sterile eye wash works ONCE and should then be replaced ( ok ask me how I know about that ). I have been infected by ER Doc digging out stuff. 2 days later went to the Opthamologist and he cleaned things up and gave me the little tube of antibiotic for self application. I have also been rescued by ER Doc with a loup and tool to extract FOD. Someone once said that life is too short to go through it injured, blind or dead. This is good advice. BTW, FOD = Foreign Object Damage and is a Military acronym I learned in the Navy regarding Jet Aircraft. Many ( most ) medical professionals are not trained to use this and do not immediately understand but I still use it. Family or neighbors ( or customers ) can always haul you to the hospital but if you NEED help and are by yourself, make the call.

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Something like this.

Glass Safety Glasses

The folks at the eyeglass place always try to convince me how much lighter my glasses would be if I switched to polycarb lenses. I still prefer safety glass. For many operations I will wear something else over them (plastic glasses, goggles, faceshield)

Probably start a flame here. I KNOW poly lenses have immensely better impact resistance. I wear my glasses all of the time. Sweating in the shop on a hot or a hard working day I probably clean my glasses (on my shirt or whatever) 10 times an hour and more. On some days I clean them almost every heat. Even with the scratch resistant coating the poly lenses just don't hold up for me.

1899.attach

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I never clean my glasses when I can use *water* either running or still to swish them through, then soap them and swiah them again---never rub them with anything before I clean off as much stuff as possible.

But I'm quite blind without them---I have to go to a back-up pair to find them when I have misplaced them.

Thomas

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Thomas, I use the same technique I guess but with a spray bottle of something ( perhaps Simple Green at home shop or some kind of orange spray cleaner or the like at work. ) Here at home I just flood until I'm happy all the nasties are off then wipe with a hankerchief. At work I follow the flooding with a water bath to the glasses ( or helmet lens sometimes ) . Work of course has a bathroom for the shop but home shop doesn't. Flooding with a spray bottle, wiping to see if it's clean and more flooding to get rid of any more nasties really seems to keep the lenses from scratching as bad ( for me anyway ).

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  • 8 months later...

My wife works for an opthamologist...they are eye surgeons....Her statement was go directly to the doc...do not try and remove it....leave your eyes water...dont touch or rub.....make sure you go to a OPTHAmologist or on the weekend... ER trying to use a magnet may not be the thing to do if it is stuck in your cornea it may pull the metal out that it tears the cornea then you got big probs....So the best thing is to go directly to the dr and let it water...she has been in the buis 20 yrs ....
BTW forging...I got a pair of flexable glass bigger than I fasionabley would like...grinding and some kinds of cutting...Face mask...just the other day I was grinding slag and piece jumped up and landed in my eye......look down..let the eye water ....I didnt have the mask on because it was "just a quick brushing" scared the heck out of me...on went the face mask.....

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I never have had a piece of metal stuck in my eye, but I always wear safety glasses.A lso, when ever I am using a grinder, I wear a face shield since one time while using a grinder someone put a 7" wheel on a 4" grinder (that was worn down) and the wheel shattered. It kinda scared some sense into me, that and the 7 stiches in my hand.

At the time I was taking a OSHA 30hr. class for my shop steward cert.(carpenters union). The previous saturday, we discussed the very same thing happening.
Needless to say, when I went back for the next class that saturday and the instructor asked what happened, I felt kinda stupid telling him.

Now, I always make sure to check the wheel first before using any grinder thats not my own. Plus ,I got kind of "grinder shy" for about 6 months before I really felt comfortable using any hand held grinder at all. Even till this day, its still always kinda in the back of my mind.

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