I wear a full face shield now when I use my gas trimmer. My neighbors probably think its funny. A couple of years ago I was wearing safety goggles doing some heavy trimming in the back yard when something shot straight up my nose and blood just started pouring. I was stunned and a bit scared because and didn't know what it was or how deep it traveled. After blowing my nose over and over out the nostril, turned out to be some kind of seed launched by the gas trimmer. What are the odds.
I actually was wearing a pair of safety glasses once and still ended up with trip to the surgery chair. 1 in a million shot. Grinding on a frame for a chopper I was building, a 1/8 inch piece of hot steel flew up and ricocheted off my cheek between the gap of my glasses and my cheek, and right into my eye. Instantly cauterized, and I actually didn't notice till that night. Started hurting like hell, and the was spot in front of my one eye. Got worse over night, next morning called an optometrist. Went in and he cut the steel out, AND the area around it where it started to rust and leach. Weirdest fucking thing actually watching the knife cut at your eye.
i went to the optomologist yesterday for a follow up and it's still a little scratched bt it should be ok he said i got lcky and i agree. but thanks guys we should bump this every once in a while
I was cutting out some old cast iron sewer pipe in my house with a sawzall. I was wearing a mask and gloves because its sewer pipe, but it was dark in the basement and my safety glasses were really scratched up and hard to see out of so I just cut without them. That night when I took out my contacts there were a bunch of little rust spots melted into them. It made me sick to think that the only thing keeping that stuff from melting into my eye was a contact lens. I immediately went out and bought several pairs of good glasses.
I NOW wear safety glasses when I brush hog on my farm tractor. I used to laugh at the commercials or ads when it showed a operator on a tractor wearing safety glasses and ear plus. What a woose I thought. Last summer I was brush hogging and was backing into a tree line. The BH hit a small rock and threw it into a tree which promptly boomeranged back and hit me in the face 1 inch from my eye. Took 11 stitches to close up the cut. BTW the BH does have a rubber guard that is supposed to stop this from happening but nothing is full proof I guess.
You are talking to a man who once managed to nearly cost his brother an eye...with a nerf football. He repaid the favor by proving to me that I could not, in fact, outrun a flying circular saw blade.
I always (never say always or never) almost always wore safety glasses at work. but here is added incentive, I was changing a brake slack adjuster at work, on a dump truck, I installed a clevis pin, and was ready to install the cotter pin, but DAMN I could not see the hole to put it in. I had to jack up the truck, to get enough distance for my aging eyes to focus.. Well as I was letting the truck down of the jacks and swearing, our local industrial supply rep was coming thru the door. In his hand was a set of safety glasses with bifocal lenses in them (1.5 I think). Never been with out them since. In fact I can't get by without them. Got a pair for the shop at home. tc
I ordered a couple of these the day this was originally posted, and got them in the mail today, and did some gringing in the shop. These things rule. I can't say enough good things about them. I will probably order a couple more to have around the house, for weedeating and any other dangerous activities outside the shop. Thanks again Lux Blue for the recomendation.
My eyes are like magnets; I spent a lot of time looking like the pirate until I got smart. I use my safety glasses for just about anything I do even cutting the grass. Your eyes cannot be replaced as your safety glasses. It’s like anything, wearing seat belts, or other safety items after awhile you get use to them.
At most of the large shops in our area safety glasses must be worn at all times. Even if a customer needs to go out in the shop they must wear them as well. We wear them all the time in my shop but also use face sheilds in many cases. Too many experiences getting steel removed and the rust ring the next day, only benefit here is the cost is covered by government health coverage.
What really bugs me is reading the tech articles in magazines and it shows these "cool" master fabricators chopping tops and grinding welds ALL THE TIME with no eye or ear protection. A lot of our favorite mags are guiulty of this, but it seems Rod & Custom is a lot better about it than most. I wish there were a way to make these "cool" guys look even cooler sitting in the emergenncy room. I wouldn't wish harm on anyone, but a lot of these guys are heros to a lot of aspiring fabricators - it's a shame they can't lead by example. Agreed. And that goes double for the few fellers on the various TV shows who don't wear adequate eye or ear protection as well...that drives me nuts when I see that because some young gun who thinks he or she is invincible anyway due to their youth is going to emulate their hero fabricators and not wear the right protection because if the hero can get away with it, so can they, right? No amount of experience, knowledge or even luck can predict the quality and reactions of the metal you are currently grinding on. If you protect yourself at all times, you'll be amazed how many 'accidents' you can prevent. Mattcrp1, I hope you heal up and feel better soon.
had it happen a few times where somthing gets past the glasses and heres what i do(your gonna love this)i have a small magnet about as big as a pencil eraser. hold my eye open rub magnet over the eye and yup,those little metal bastards are gone. just make sure the magnet is clean before you try it. less $$$ for e.r. more $$$ for cars!!!!!
damn this thread, damn this thread to hell! ya I read it, posted about the goggles I wear when I have contacts in. But didnt have anything to go over my glasses. Well.... monday was my last day of active duty military, which also means last day of health insurance. Oh I got out the angle grinder with a sanding disk to clean up some junkyard steel wheels. Tuesday morning my right eye is irritated, i get some eye flush stuff and it seemed to be improving. Wednesday morning its still irritated so I called a eye doctor and got appt. There was a little piece of metal in there, $180 worth, he gave me a discount since I didnt have insurance.
Put a bucket of safety glasses at your shop door...pick one up as you pass through the door...keep them on your head all day long!
yup. I remember waking up at 2 in the morning after grinding the day before(without googles because their not "cool") with this real sharp pain in my eye. I spent the rest of the day in the emergency room. the doc pulled out the steel, but said it rusted, so I went to a specialist who numbed my eye and took a dremmel to the rust. yay! I wore an eyepatch for a week after and got so much shit from everyone I knew.
I was recently grinding welds on the bottom of a T-bird floor and I was wearing a face shield but spaced putting it down after taking a quick peak at the progress I made...if it wasn't for my speedy eyelids I would have had a nice chunk of metal in my eye. I sure didn't forget to put the shield down again that day, I was lucky! Safety glasses and face shields are amazing and are so horribly under-used by a lot of people.
Me too. Scratched the lens and I had to have a little procedure to remove a bit of shredded tissue. Very unpleasant bit of business. Sorry, no photos.
it seems eveyone has had metal in their eye here i just got my first peice last thursday i made the mistake of rubbing my eye and pushed it in i got the dremel treatment too due to rust i guess it time to get rid and the safety glasses and get some googles i lucked out this time and it only cost me 150 dollars
I'm surprised skratch hasn't spoke up and showed his 2" gash on his chin... lotso stitches! I can relate, had to have my eye drilled for metal pieces!
it's been nearly a year .you can barely see the scar .but ,i still have little to no feeling in my lower lip .and you can catch me drooling at any time ..or even worst things spilling beer .. wear your full face sheild .don't F around ..your eyes are very important .IF you like looking at cars and girls .
Geez, you guys just need to learn to move your head out of the way when something comes flying at it. Dumbasses, you don't need safety glasses, you need reflexes. Yes, I'm kidding.
it's surprising how easy it is to get used to them. I have so far, tried to ... Drink coffee through one (derrrr) same with dr.pepper. left one on for around 2 hours while doing nothing with a grinder or cutting torch. read the hamb for 30 minutes or so worn it into the bathroom about a dozen times before I realized it was there tried to put one one...while wearing one ( I got lots of these things) and finally, made it all the way to the car with one on after a long day of work. If Condoms were as easy to get used to, there would be no such thing as unplanned teenage pregnancy.
Oh yeah! You can wear ear protection comfortably with these on! no goofy plastic headgear to manuver around!
Here is the place I bought mine. They are very comfortable to wear, and you really can forget you are wearing one. http://www.discountsafetygear.com/jatshclvi.html
Done the ER thing a couple times after getting something in my eye---no fun. Once it was while on the job (factory) and I even had my required side sheld safety glasses on when it happened. Ya just never know, no one plans an accident. Wear the best eye protection you can find.
It pays to clean up after every grinding, sanding, or machining operation when you are working with metal, plastics or any other material to include wood. Air currents from fans, open doors, and even air conditioning can blow that stuff all over the place and into your face. I've had metal taken out of my eyes twice. And both times I was working in my shop but I was not doing anything that would have generated chips.
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