Flint and steel mishap

L

lotoblades

Joined
Oct 20, 2006
Messages
1,196
Hi everyone, I've been praticing fire making with flint and steel,Ok actualy quarts. I thought I was getting pretty good but I wound up getting a bit of hacksaw blade stuck in my eye:mad: I didn't realize it for three days beacause it really didn't hurt,(thought it was too much poplar smoke):confused: Any way had it removed,drops every 3 hours and saftey glasses glued to my face:) :) Just wondering if anybody else has done the same.
 
Whoa! man, glad to hear you are OK. :thumbup:
No, haven't heard of it, but now that you bring it up, it's a good warning for eveyone to watch it...we are flicking bits of hot metal around. :eek:

Metal in the eye is no joke, a buddy of mine did that working on his MG sports car many years ago, it got in there, got infected and he really came close to losing his vision, per the eye doc.

Again, hope it's OK, keep putting in those drops, and eveyone protect their eyes!
 
Any time you make contact you send pieces everywhere. A long time ago at my cousin's house my brother was cracking open geodes / quartz rocks with a hammer inside of a bag, and he managed to get a tiny piece in his eye.

He couldn't feel it and it didn't do any damage (it hit the white part), but apparently it was sticking out like an iceberg so when he'd close his eye it would scrape the inside of his eyelid. After a couple of days his eye was really irritated and that's how we found out...he ended up on the eyedrops too and now I'm a bit less carefree about things.

That, and I worked in a machine shop babysitting a bunch of freshman engineers with a shop professor who spent half his life yelling "SAFETY GOGGLES ON!" across the room.
 
Hikeeba, not sure must be bad techniqe or just luck.But I guess if you hit rocks and metal together enough it can happen. I was holding a sharp piece of quarts in one hand with charcloth on top and striking downward with a piece of hacksaw blade.

Any advice on better methods is welcome,:)
 
While on the subject, I might suggest that you wear something with a little UV protection as well, if you're going to be doing a lot of practicing.
 
Moral of the story is,, please eveyone, wear your saftey glasses!. Then, Think saftey first, Please Brother!!:thumbup: :)
 
sunnyd said:
Moral of the story is,, please eveyone, wear your saftey glasses!. Then, Think saftey first, Please Brother!!:thumbup: :)
Click to expand...

I have been thinking about adding safety glasses to my kits and supply bins, but I keep forgetting. A sticky note is now affixed to my wallet as a reminder to get some during my lunch hour tomorrow.
 
I wound up with a tiny piece of brass in my eye while doing some plumbing work once. Since then I've tried very hard to wear safety glasses whenever possible. If I do find myself without the proper gear I make sure to close the one eye that has 20/20 vision -- no sense screwing up the good one.
 
everytime i go into the field , i wear safety glasses that have the tint in them as sunnies . i get these for free from work , so a performance bargain . indespensible when chopping or doing outdoors stuff , i bet they`re an overlooked item in most peoples kits though.
 
Since I wear prescription glasses, I usually avoid the "chip in the ey" thing - instead I just get scratched up glasses! :rolleyes:

When teaching students to use flint, steel and char-cloth, the most common injury we get seems to be sliced knuckles from enthusiastic use of the pieces of flint!
 
Hey Loto...

Keep that in mind if you ever go for an MRI...

They will ask you if you have ever had metal in your eyes!!
They will send you for an eye scan in this case first...

An MRI will Yank any metal partical in your body out..


ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
lotoblades said:
Hikeeba, not sure must be bad techniqe or just luck.But I guess if you hit rocks and metal together enough it can happen. I was holding a sharp piece of quarts in one hand with charcloth on top and striking downward with a piece of hacksaw blade.

Any advice on better methods is welcome,:)
Click to expand...
Given the ojective is to strike off steel (made molten/hot by friction) with "flint," try striking the steel with the "flint." (Think of a flintlock firearm. http://science.howstuffworks.com/flintlock2.htm ) (And keep wearing glasses. :thumbup: )

Hope you are feeling better.
 
I completely agree with you all about the necessity of safety glasses. I once stabbe mself square between the eyes with a screwdriver once. Yes it was careless on my part. Luckily my face was fine but there was a nast gash in the goggles. Glad to hear you got fixed up ok. Thanks for the reminder.

-Lindey
 
As I understand it, your eye begins to heal itself faster than any other body part. Within just a few minutes, it begins trying to heal over/ around the irritation. If you have something in your eye, it needs to come out, or it will be part of you before too long.
 
I've been a machinist for along time and had a MRI 3 years past. X-rays showed no ferous metals. Safety glasses help. And lots of luck!
 
Lindey said:
... I... stabbed myself square between the eyes with a screwdriver once...
Click to expand...

Let me guess. You were using the screwdriver for something other than it's intended purpose, i.e. to tighten or loosen a screw. The last time I saw someone cut themselves with a knife, it was for the same reason. He was using it as a screwdriver.
 
That's one reason I like PC (polycarbonate) sunglasses-- much more impact resistant. Nice and light too.

I get crazy with co-workers who won't wear safety glasses. I've done enough wood and metal work to know better. When you're shoving stuff though a saw and you feel the bits bouncing off your cheeks, you're glad to have them on. I've had metal bits in the pinky end of my hand from using a cold chisel-- the ones that work themsleves out much later. I don't want that crap in my eyes.

I'm glad you're doing okay and thanks for the "lesson learned."

"An expert is someone who has made the mistakes--- and remembers how and why they happened." -- DaleW

"Failure? Why, I know 10,000 things that don't work!" -- Thomas Edison
 
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