IronChef Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 Hi I’m looking for some guidance. I’m having trouble seeing marks and details in the glowing metal until the heat fades. This makes it difficult to be precise and efficient. Should I look into shaded safety glasses? Does anyone else experience this and if so , any suggestions? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 What kind of marks? Some are easier to see than others. Rubbing your hammer over a surface can sometimes make indents show up better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 On some projects I use a cold chisel to make all my marks cold before forging so I can feel my way around when I cant see or to mark a measured point for a bend ect then once I do what I’m trying to I heat it up an tap the mark back out again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronChef Posted February 24, 2022 Author Share Posted February 24, 2022 I use a cold chisel, punch etc to lay out sometimes too. I guess most of my issue is seeing hammer marks, for example if I’m trying to continue with a taper I already started. I’m probably over thinking it but every time I forge I find myself struggling to see details and I usually end up hitting where I shouldn’t have or losing my heat because I’m trying to see exactly where I need to hit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 My mentor Ike Doss once said to me "are you going to hit it or look at it". I was having the same problem when I started out. He gave me a good pointer which was study the metal before putting it in the fire, then develop a plan about where and how hard to hit it when you take the iron out of the fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedefiddle Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 Good Morning IronChef, It is very difficult to see round center punch marks in hot Steel. Make a square center punch and use it, you can see the square mark. Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frazer Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 When possible I put my center punch marks all the way at the edge of the material. The resulting mark will bulge the material out to the side which makes your mark easier to see and possible to feel by sliding the stock across the edge of the anvil. Scale can also get in the way of seeing what's going on. Keep your brush in arms reach at all times and you'll be more likely to use it. Mine is stuck to my anvil stand with a magnet, just below the horn. Whenever I work in someone else's shop, I always reach in that spot to either find or return the brush to it's spot. Muscle memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 Staring at hot metal is not good for your eyes, I don't know that #2 Welding lenses would help you but they would help your eyes. Planning what you will be doing in the next heat ahead of time helps as you will know what part of the piece needs to be heated---more of an issue in solid fuel forges than gas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkie Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 X2 on Thomas' comments. In addition to not looking at hot metal, more importantly many folks like to stare at the fire...sort of mezmerizing. Not good. Get some IR glasses, not welding glasses (they are for UV). There are many posts here on IFI regarding infrared glasses and also IR causing cataracts...you have only one pair of eyes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 The green glasses for gas welding work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rojo Pedro Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 Maybe look into to didymium glasses used for glass blowing and torch work. Quick search says that they specialize in blocking yellow light from the burning sodium in the glass but work to block a wide spectrum of ir and are pretty clear. The wife has a pair and I will give them a look this weekend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 Arc welding shields are the wrong end of the frequencies---UV, gas welding lenses are the right end of the spectrum, IR. People often get this confused when working with a forge. Forges put out a lot of IR and almost no UV! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fire plus Bird Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 After reading this thread, I searched older threads about safety glasses to try and find out more about what levle of IR protection is appropriate for safety glasses used at the forge. The choises I've seen so far include didymium, green welders glasses/#2 Welding lenses, IR3 lenses, IR 5 lenses... There also seemto be differing opinions on whether green or grey lenses are better in terms of letting you see forging colors on your steel. Any clarity to clear things up would be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 These are all subjective views; unless *everyone's* eyes were exactly the same you will not get *1* answer. Does that clear things up? (I sure hope your eyes are NOT like mine!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fire plus Bird Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 Hah, Thomas. I almost wrote that it seems kinda subjective. But should it be? I mean, you'd think that someone would have done studies to discovery how much IR light is harmful... to the average eye... and so what level of IR protection is appropriate. I'd expect there to be something like an ANSI standard for forging/kiln work or other similar sort of industrial exposure. But, maybe not. I get that not everyone has the same eyes. Believe me. Heck, my eyes have gone from fairly farsighted and cross-eyed as a child to relatively normal as a late teen/young adult, to farsighted in one eye/nearsighted on the other as a late twenties-something, to still farsighted in one eye/just barely nearsighted in the other as I tiptoe up to 50. Not to mention the need to go from regular corrective lenses to progressives, to progressives with serious magnification up close. So heck, maybe I'd prefer your eyes to mine, Thomas . Seriously thouhg, I just had my annual eye exam yesterday (no cateracts or anythingt natsty like so far, yay!) and ordered $600 and something worth of corrective eyewear -- so eye care is on my mind. I'd like to keep my glasses protected in the shop and my eyes protected at the forge. My great granddad's cataracts did him in... but the old devil lived into his 80s, so mayvbe it's not such a big deal after all . Maybe I'll start with IR 3 lenses. Honeywell makes some OTG safety goggles that look like they might be decent. Can anyone speak to how IR 3 green lenses affect your ability to see heat colors on steel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 Well there is a difference between what is protective and what is easiest to see with. Some folks hate the green lenses and some hate the purple---when they might both offer the same protection! Lets see in my 20's I was 20:450 and 20:550....luckily plain nearsightedness is correctable. Now living in New Mexico and having adult onset Juvenile Diabetes for 20+ years... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jobtiel1 Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 I haven't really seen people use these kind of glasses both on here and with other local smiths, are you using them all the time? Or only during forge welding? I haven't really considered IR radiation from hot steel, but I've made it a habit not to stare in the fire. Do you still recommend getting these kind of glasses over normal safety glasses? And do you guys use them all the time or just for forge welding? ~Jobtiel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluerooster Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 I just got a new pair of prescription glasses. Trivex, with IR protection. when I was ordering them, they kept confusing IR with UV. Trivex is inherently UV resistant, I had to keep telling them I want IR filter. Finally got through to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 Trivex is my go to prescription glasses also. They are lighter than polyester lenses and stronger, the same stuff the face shields that our astronaut's have with their space suit's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronChef Posted February 27, 2022 Author Share Posted February 27, 2022 Well as luck would have it a piece of hot metal flew under my safety glasses and stuck on my eye lens today. (I might have been leaning closer to see better but I’m not sure) I thought I was going to have to spend the day at the E.R. But thankfully after repeated flushings it got dislodged. so anyway, I am now using goggles instead of glasses. I will look for some with ir protection. I’m happy to still have all my senses (even if not all 100%) and I’ll be diligent about safety moving forward. take care all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkie Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 I always wear my IR glasses when forging; I have two shades. One is not real strong and sort of an amber tint. The only problem I have with the tint on glasses is that they mess with telling the colors on tempering. First time I noticed it was when I was tempering a chisel to straw or thereabouts, and I went past it all the way to purple or blue! I only noticed the darker shade on the steel and when I dropped the glasses I noticed the real color. Had to start over! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anachronist58 Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 1 hour ago, IronChef said: Well as luck would have it Wow. I hope you heal quickly and completely. I have been hot swarfed on the lens, did not enjoy that, to say the least. Many great points brought out here, but I wish to focus on Iron Dragons' "are you going to hit it or look at it" remark, heard Thomas drop that line, as well. The closer you have your eyes to your hot work, the more difficulty you are likely to encounter, as bounded by the pesky inverse square law. If your face feels hot, be assured that your eyes will be feeling hotter, though one may not notice. In short, best to observe glowing metal from a distance, and learn the tricks and tells as earlier laid down. hammer head rubbing, that is a good one. I think it goes back to look at it or hit it, though, as in training your machinery to strike true. Hit it with my arm, not my eye? Hopefully I will use my amber IR glasses more often... Robert Taylor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 OW! I'm relieved to hear you weren't seriously injured. You only have 2 eyes and there are so many ways to lose one blacksmithing it isn't funny. I wear poly carbonate trifocals with side shields safety glasses as my every day glasses. Depending on what I'm doing in the shop I have clear bug eye safety goggles that fit close on my face and if I'm running a wire wheel, disk grinder, etc. I have a face shield that adds a 3rd. layer. I don't wear tinted safety glasses unless I'm arc welding to prevent or mitigate getting flashed by reflection or just screwing up. There was a discussion about getting flashed recently, it's no fun. Both times it woke me up in early morning hours with my eyelids glued closed but feeling like they were lined with sand paper. Lasted a few days and I missed work using up medicated eye drops. Anyway, don't take chances! Once you've developed hammer control you do not need to see as much as you think in the beginning. I spend less time watching the work than I do feeling and listening to it. I don't gaze into the forge and I don't focus on the work. I keep an eye on it but I don't WATCH it. I haven't had green spots in years after a day at the anvil. Technique is everything, after a while it's just not as important to see every detail to produce a good product. If I'm forge welding a large piece I put my tinted bug eyes over my trifocals to prevent problems. I find that if I have to let my eyes adjust after working on a piece it's too bright, time for the tints. And THAT my friend is my subjective opinion and tricks. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronChef Posted February 27, 2022 Author Share Posted February 27, 2022 Thank you all for sharing your opinions, knowledge and wisdom. These forums are priceless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 Priceless is our going rate! Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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