Safety Glasses

[Mike OMelia]

I always have glasses on in the shop. Have to mainly cause I have 40 something eyes. A month ago, my brother-in-law was camping. Used an ax to chop some stakes. A little piece flew off and hit him in an eye. He said it hurt, but went to sleep anyways. Next morning, woke up and could not see out of that eye. When we got there to rescue him to hospital, it looked like someone had punched him hard in the eye. Blood red, black and blue. All from a small wood chip, blunt trauma to the surface of the eye. He used to be 20:15. Hunter. I called him eagle eyes. The damage is permanent. He is effectively blind on one eye.

If you dont wear shop glasses, start wearing them. The other lesson is if u get an eye injury, go to doc immediately. His doc told him that it was the long time between injury and treatment that ended his vision.

[Sam Murdoch]

I wear safety glasses "nearly" all the time in the shop. Would not have been wearing them camping though. Good reminder not to neglect an injury but I bet most of us would have done the same thing. Thanks for the warning. Sorry for your BIL. That really is a bad news deal :(.

[Mike OMelia]

I agree, I might not have thought to wear them out in the woods. I guess the rule is, swinging iron? Wear some glasses. Don't matter where u are. For me, that's a non-issue. If I did not have my glasses on, I'd probably hit my hand.

[Edward P. Surowiec]

What type of Safety Glasses do you recommend??? Most of them are plastic and quickly become scratched and blurry .

[Andrew Kertesz]

There are many types and most are relatively inexpensive. Make sure they're ANSI rated and buy a couple of pairs. Try them on and make sure there is no distortion. Definitely cheap insurance... If you treat them with a little respect most will last for quite some time.

[Tom Matthews]

I like the Condor visitor glasses from Grainger. Part numer 4EY97. They are cheap ($1.90) and seem to last quite a while. Low profile and comfortable. They are completely clear, so there is no frame to get in your field of view.

I've seen them rebranded as Dewalt brand at the home centers. If you deal with Grainger where you work, they may even extend that discount to you individually so they're even cheaper.

[Dave Verstraete]

+1 on the Condor glasses at Grainger. Buy a box of them and dispose of them when they get scratched. You almost forget you are wearing them if you keep them clean. I put a pair on when I enter the shop. I am uncomfortable without glasses in any work environment. When I was an apprentice in A Die Shop a journeyman had his eye pierced by a tiny grinding wheel stem. I'll never forget it. Always wear eye protection!!

[Rod Sheridan]

I agree, I might not have thought to wear them out in the woods. I guess the rule is, swinging iron? Wear some glasses. Don't matter where u are. For me, that's a non-issue. If I did not have my glasses on, I'd probably hit my hand.

Hi Mike, safety training teaches you that any time hand tools are used, you wear eye protection.

It's hard to get into that mode, yet once you do it's automatic...........regards, Rod.

[Chris Kennedy]

I wear prescription glasses, so I always have my eyes covered for almost any activity. That being said, I bought a pair of prescription safety glasses somewhere on-line a number of years back. Before I turn on any motor, I put my safety glasses on, although I rely on my regular specs for most other activities. I probably should wear my safety glasses full time when I am working in the shop.

Cheers,

Chris

[Shawn Pixley]

I will echo the need for eye protection. My best friend lost his left eye when chopping wood very similarly to the OP's story. My left eye is likely worse from a series of impacts with baseballs. I was a lead-off batter and was hit several times stealing second, but that is another story. I now am somewhat obsessive about carrying my safety goggles around and wearing them in the shop, playing soccer or working in a lab. I am effectively non-functional to near objects without my glasses. Losing any more vision is a non-option for me.

[Matthew Hills]

I wear prescription glasses always, but they don't provide as much coverage as my old 80's/90's engineer glasses.
I picked up a pair of safety glasses in Wiley X frames from Optics Planet (http://www.opticsplanet.com).

Matt

[Ellen Benkin]

Getting older is not for sissies!

I wear blended lenses all the time so I always have some eye protection. However, these lenses are not convenient for either woodworking or using computers so I had two "special" sets of glasses made. I used cheap frames but good lenses. The woodworking glasses have side pieces built in They are well worth the cost.

[John M Wilson]

"And remember this: there is no more important safety rule than to wear these — safety glasses."

The Norminator :)

[Mike OMelia]

I have a pair of "reading" safety glasses and I do use those.

The main thing to remember here is that (to my knowledge) there are no blind woodworkers.

Mike

[Randal Stevenson]

I have wore glasses with polycarbonate lens for years. A friend who worked at Ford, brought me some side shields that go onto my glasses (need to go looking for more), and I used them for a long time, as I couldn't get prescription ones from my eye doctor (mom works there). I complain about that to him every time, and ended up getting a set at Sam's club. I have seen images and heard horror stories from mom (his surgical nurse).

[Jerry Thompson]

Safety glass plus a full face shield when I use a router. If a hunk flys off of the bit......

[Ronald Blue]

That's strange Randal, I just had my eye exam this morning and ordered 2 pair of safety glasses for work complete with side shields attached. They are made by AO Safety. Can't imagine an eye Dr not being able to fix you up. I have no idea of cost because my employer supplies them.

[Keith Weber]

My career would be over if I lost an eye, so I don't even think about operating anything in the shop other than a mechanical pencil without safety glasses. I've become so used to wearing them that I'll leave the shop, drive 15 minutes to the hardware store, spend 30 minutes in the store, and then only realize that I'm still wearing my safety glasses when the cashier gives me that funny look. I've even gone home and watched about half a movie on the TV before I realized that I'm still wearing them. The key is to have a pair that are comfortable and non-obtrusive, and you won't mind wearing them.

[Chris Kennedy]

My career would be over if I lost an eye, so I don't even think about operating anything in the shop other than a mechanical pencil without safety glasses. I've become so used to wearing them that I'll leave the shop, drive 15 minutes to the hardware store, spend 30 minutes in the store, and then only realize that I'm still wearing my safety glasses when the cashier gives me that funny look. I've even gone home and watched about half a movie on the TV before I realized that I'm still wearing them. The key is to have a pair that are comfortable and non-obtrusive, and you won't mind wearing them.

I hear you on this one. It isn't my safety glasses. They feel so different from my regular glasses, I always know when I am wearing them. For me, it's my ear plugs. I put them on as I walk in the shop, and I don't always have them in, but they are on a band around my neck and I put them in when I start up machinery. I have discovered that I am still wearing them as I am getting ready for bed. I've worn them in the shop, to the hardware store, to the grocery store, a few other places . . . . I am so used to them being there, I don't think to take them off when I leave the shop.

Cheers,

Chris

[Roger Feeley]

Not to derail the conversation but I have seen blind woodworkers. I once toured the Kansas School for the Blind and they had a wood shop. I don't remember many of the acccomodations but I do remember the bandsaw. they had a little rod the went down right in front of the blade They would use double stick tape to attach a paper template to the wood and the blind student would use his finger to guide the blade along the edge of the template. It really creeped me out.

[Mike Cozad]

I am a bit obsessive about eye protection. Not really sure unless it was from an injury of a sailor when I was stationed in Pearl Harbor. He lost his eye on the racquetball court. He turned to look at his opponent and was hit with a direct shot to the eye. He lost the eye. I wore bargain basement goggles up to that day. I went out and bought the very best pair the next afternoon.

I where these in the shop. I get them from MSC at a discount through my employer. Comfortable, no fogging, and light weight.
http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT2?PMPXNO=20944110&PMTERM=

[Thomas Canfield]

I found this source here about 7 years ago after cataract surgery and needing some simple bifocal safety glasses: http://www.safetyglassesusa.com/
They have a wide selection of different types, lens color, bifocal, etc. Now I need to find some trifocal safety glasses since my optical house pair is starting to get scratched.

[Harry Hagan]

Safety glass plus a full face shield when I use a router. If a hunk flys off of the bit......

I now use my face shield that used to hang on the wall collecting dust. My new ophthalmologist (a woodworker) insists that I use one when making sawdust in the shop. If you’ve ever had that wood chip do a bank shot off your face, hit the inside of your safety glasses and bounce around—you’ll realize that sometimes glasses aren’t enough protection.

[Gus Dundon]

I always working on my shop and it's always my habit to wear glasses and I wear gloves too, even.

[Charles McKinley]

Never wear gloves near anything that spins! Drill press, Table saw, Jointer, Planer etc. Your skin will cut. The glove material will get wrapped in the cutter and pull you in.

I just got Revisions Sawfly glasses and now need to get the Rx insert filled. I got the frames and inserts off eBay. My eye doctor will send them out no problem.

I had a similar set up from North Safety but the safety glasses were not optical quality and had too much distortion for me. The Revisions are optical quality and are current standard military issue.

[Michael Mayo]

Just a quick story. I used to work as a professional car dealership technician and wore safety glasses often as it was mandatory. One day I was drilling on a frame with the car on the lift above me. I had my safety glasses on the whole time. I finished drilling the frame member (why I don't remember) but it was summer time and very hot so I was sweating profusely. I took my safety glasses off and had some sweat rolling down my forehead so I instinctively went to wipe it off with my shirt sleeve. Well I succeeded in wiping metal chips right into my eye that were on my sleeve from drilling the frame member. I had to stop working and go to the eye doctor. When I got there he put me in the chair and examined my eye and told me I had metal particles imbedded into the eye and that he had to drill them out........:eek: I said WHAT? So he said he had to special drill to remove the metal particles. So he went ahead and put some super nasty stuff into my eye to numb it and dilate my eye so he could work on it. It took him maybe 15 minutes or so and he was done. The procedure didn't bother me a bit but the stuff he put into my eyes made me severely ill and I was like that for almost 2 days. I have no long term issues due to this injury except that several years ago I had some neck problems that required major surgery and they wanted to do an MRI scan but the technicians refused to put me in the MRI machine due to my having had metal in my eyes previously. Seems that if you have metal in you and they put you into the magnetic resonance machine it will heat up the metal and case severe pain and sometimes injury. I went and had my eye re-examined by another eye surgeon and he said he could not find any traces at all of any metal in eye but they still balked at putting me into the machine so they did a CAT scan instead.

So the moral of the story is even though you are wearing safety glasses always be mindful of your situation as you can still do damage in other ways if you are not thinking.

[Larry Prem]

For anyone with a wide face/head like me, try the Pyramex V2-Metal glasses. The metal frame can be bent for a proper fit and stay in shape afterwards. They are ~$10 on Amazon. I use these exclusively.

Always get ANSI Z87.1 rated glasses.

[Jamie Lynch]

It's your eyes, invest in the best protection you can afford! I've worn Oakley M frames at work 10+hours a day for the past three years, before that it was the cheapies that they gave me to satisfy safety regs. I hear nothing but good about WileyX.
Cheap safety glasses will get the job done, maybe at the cost of comfort and short lifespan, but the most important thing is to have them on your face! Also remember to keep a few pairs for your guests.

[Peter Kelly]

The Fastcap ones are really nice. $7.10 on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/FASTCAP-SG-AF-P510-Clear-Safety-Glasses/dp/B0006IUKAQ).

[jim vancampen]

I got a festool set for free. Luckily it was free because I would have been pist if I actually paid money for them. They are very adjustable and come with two lenses and a soft case. The clear lense is coated inside and out with something that hazes up. Nothing cleans it off. The optics suck too. They give me a headache. I have some 3m glasses now the are pretty good, i don't know the model though.. On a side note I found that wiping my glasses with a dryer sheet makes them anti-staticy for a couple hours.

[Bob Turkovich]

I got a festool set for free. Luckily it was free because I would have been pist if I actually paid money for them. They are very adjustable and come with two lenses and a soft case. The clear lense is coated inside and out with something that hazes up. Nothing cleans it off. The optics suck too. They give me a headache. I have some 3m glasses now the are pretty good, i don't know the model though.. On a side note I found that wiping my glasses with a dryer sheet makes them anti-staticy for a couple hours.


Your dryer sheet comment is interesting as it is known in auto detailing circles that you shouldn't use towels that have gone through the cleaning process with dryer sheets as it will leave a haze on your finish. I have been told the same by my opthamologist with regards to towels used to clean glasses.

[jim vancampen]

interesting....i never noticed any hazing from the dryer sheet. However, I didn't use the dryer sheet on the festool glasses.. they didn't stay with me long enough.

[William Nimmo]

o.k. I will be the first
I almost never wear safety glasses. They annoy the crap out of me, and if I do put them on for a task that absolutely needs them they are off as soon as possible.

[glenn bradley]

o.k. I will be the first
I almost never wear safety glasses. They annoy the crap out of me, and if I do put them on for a task that absolutely needs them they are off as soon as possible.

It was nice seeing you. Hope you can continue to see us.

I always wear safety glasses. When the plastic ones bugged me I got Rx safety glasses. I got them as large as possible to protect the greatest area. I don't need to look cool in the shop so the wrap-arounds and tinted jobs are not for me. Large safety lenses in "real" safety frames with side guards. Norm wasn't kidding about this. Current medical technology does not include ocular bionics :)

251254

Don't be the star of someone else's story. Wear your gear.