Eye Safety

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bjalongi

Joined
Oct 23, 2006
Messages
640
I fired up the forge for a few hours yesterday. A couple hours after I stopped forging, I started to get a headache. Within three hours, my eyes ached something aweful, and it was steadily getting worse. The only cure was sitting on the couch with my eyes closed and my face burried in a pillow like a sniveling wimp.

I've had to wear sunglasses all day today just to make the pain bearable. I feel as though I'm recovering from a bad case of snow blindness similar to what I've experienced on climbing expeditions.

I was stupid and only wore a set of cheapo safety glasses, instead of the UVA/B safety sunglasses I usually wear when I have the forge going.

Don't be stupid like me. The intense radiation given off by heat sources can sneak up on you. Don't spend a lot of time staring into the forge either.

Just thought I'd share this with everyone.
 
Yep, sounds like flash burn.I have welded off and on for about thirty years now and have had a few. I have used an old remedy for many years. Grate a potato into some water then strain and squeeze out the juice and wash your eyes with it.I use to put some in an icecube tray when I welded fulltime. If I got flashed I could nuke it,let it cool then apply. We use to work in close quarters with several welders going so you could get flashed from behind, or just lifting your helmet.I hope you feel better. Dave:)
 
A bigger concern than UV from the forge is IR (infrared). A forge is a blackbody radiator which means essentially that the radiation is related to the temperature. For temperatures below about 4000 F there is a lot more IR than UV. Unless the glasses you have are rated for IR they don't provide protection. Welders goggles do provide protection.

ron
 
That has happened to me a few times. I wear sunglasses when I open up the paragon or forge. Another silly sounding trick I use now is to try to not look directly into the forge so much.
 
welding goggles DO NOT filter out the UV that harms your eyes! You need the didymium glasses, they are made to filter out the UV radiation from our kind of fires in the gas forge and coal fire.
 
Didymium are not made to filter UV. They are made to filter sodium flare (common in some glass blowing) and do nothing to filter IR although they do filter some UV. There is a company that specializes in lenses for glass blowers (aura lens) that have the transmittance spectra in graph form for their lenses and didymium, and it is obvious the didymium don't work for forging. Modern welders lenses filter both UV and IR if they meet the current ANSI spec. But as I said above UV is not a major concern for forging unless you are working above about 6000 F.

As for regular sunglasses they are probably worse than nothing as most do nothing to reduce IR but open the pupil so more radiation gets in.

After I was told I'm starting to get cataracts on my last eye exam, I did some serious looking into the whole bit. Not all of it was on the internet but a good summary of the available info can be found on Aura lens' site. Based on what I found I now use a face shield with either a welders shade 3 or shade 5 shield to protect my vision.

Links
Aura lens home
http://www.auralens.net/

Didymium transmittance
http://www.auralens.net/Didymium.htm

AUR-99 transmittance (their recommended lens for forging)
http://www.auralens.net/AUR-99.htm

Links to various stuff
http://www.auralens.net/m2_glassworker.cfm

Auralens recommendations and myths
http://www.auralens.net/e_gwrecommend.cfm
and a quote from that page
UV Hazards - Myth
Unless your work or torch/furnace exceeds 6000 degrees F, there is NO UV hazard. Small amounts of UV are generated, but they are absorbed by any eyewear you may choose to wear. If you are working quartz , be aware that heating quartz generates vast amounts of UV, so quartz workers should wear additional UV protection or select filters that provide sufficient UV protection.

Blackbody radiators (temperatures in Kelvin; 2000 oF =about 1365 K, 3000oF =about 1920 K, 6000 oF =about 3590 K)
http://library.thinkquest.org/C007571/english/advance/background4.htm
http://www.lon-capa.org/~mmp/applist/blackbody/black.htm
http://qsad.bu.edu/applets/blackbody/applet.html
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/guidry/java/planck/planck.html

ron
 
Good post, Ron.

+1 for the AUR-99's. I've used mine for 5 years with nary an eye burn. Sadly, I notice they no longer offer them in the 9803 frame with the large lenses and side shields.

Pontificating: cataracts, like lung disease, are usually the results of cumulative damage over the course of years. If you start out smart with the best protection you can get in eyewear and respirators, the pay off over those years is just about the most economical investment you could ever make. The sad part of the story is that you only realize too late how much of a fool you were to ignore the warnings.
 
Not flash burn, but somethin to think about. I grabbed a Dremmel to just do a small job, and DID get safety glasses on "just because". Not a minute into my project, the Jacob's chuck on the Dremel came apart in such a way that I had cuts on both of my hands. I can only imagine what it might have done to my eyes if it had gone that way.
 
I am sure that everyone nailed it with the Eye Burn , But out of curiosity, do you have a carbon monoxide detector in your shop. An overdose of that will give you the worse headache of your life! sometimes lasting for days! Just an observation, coming from a really bad carbon Monoxide poisoning experience.
 
Good info. You might also look into the loss of vitamin A from bright lights !! Just one more factor !
 
Thanks for the Welcome Sam.. Will, My life is really busy, but I am trying to get online a little more lately! Kids are getting older, take care of themselves a lot now. gives me a little free time.
Bjalongi, I only commented because your symptoms were almost identical to mine after a really bad Carbon Monoxide poisoning, With the exceptions of convulsions and falling asleep. But the headache and eye's hurting so bad, lasted for days for me. Audra
 
Audra, my godfather used to live over in Crow Heart, WY. Not too far from all of y'all. He was/is a stock removal guy. He's spending winters back here in winter cause his ole lady doesn't like snow :D
 
Don't know about the head ach, I've had my eyes flash burned a few times working as a welder, the main symtom for me was I couldn't open my eyes unless it was pitch black, any light at all made my eyes water and pretty much shut automaticly. Never noticed a headache, could have been because my eyes were hurting too bad to notice. I forge outside so I don't have a problem with CO2, but if your forging inside a gas forge is a CO2 factory.

On anouther note I now were safty glasses anytime I walk in the shop. I was cutting a piece of titanium on the bandsaw and a jiblet fliped up into an eye. I got lucky with just a little bleading and no permanent damage, but after letting a Doc. flip my eyelid inside out and other unpleasantries I just about put safty glasses on when I get out of bed.
 
Will, I'm From Crowheart!! We lived (Dad still lives there) about 10 minutes from the P.O. of course that is all there is in Crowheart. P.O. and the Firestation. My Dad has a Saw Mill on Burris and Lenore RD. He had a friend that made stock removal knives that lived down the road, Tom. Wow, What a small world. What is your God Fathers name?
 
Audra Draper said:
Will, I'm From Crowheart!! We lived (Dad still lives there) about 10 minutes from the P.O. of course that is all there is in Crowheart. P.O. and the Firestation. My Dad has a Saw Mill on Burris and Lenore RD. He had a friend that made stock removal knives that lived down the road, Tom. Wow, What a small world. What is your God Fathers name?
Click to expand...

Audra.... how my people live on that road and are stock removal guys? :D Yeah, Tom is my godfather. I love that place. If I didn't have kids I would move there, well at least after the Winter is over. Yeah, the PO/fire station/garage/hardware store but the City Hall is across the street :D
 
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