Yes. reflected exposure is a real danger. I got a flat, round shield from an old time welder when i was young and had sun burned face after a big day of welding. I took a welding class in JC in the 60s with my best friend. He welded in his little private booth with his shirt off to get a tan!!
Have had a couple of flash burns and numerous metal slivers removed over the years. Not much fun. Worse still, I am a glazier by trade, and once had a clear glass sliver embedded in my eye. The doc said he couldn't see it using the usual stuff for metal. He could see where it was, but could not see the actual glass sliver. After what seemed like hours (around 20 minutes real time) of him digging around, he finally managed to get it out. He told me it was just a process of luck. He just kept carefully going at it until it appeared on the end of the needle. I have ever since tried not to have a repeat of that shit......
Don't know what a flash burn feels like. About 6 months ago I had a total brain fart and did a small tack weld without flipping down my helmet. I stopped and went into the house for the rest of the day fully expecting for my eyes to start burning or something but nothing happened.
Had metal in my eyes several time but was lucky enough to get it out without damage, other than some irritation for a day or two. ER doc used a magnet on me one time and it worked. Got me thinking and I keep a strong magnet stuck to my toolbox. It's only going to help for steel, and isn't going to remove anything embedded, but might get a sliver out before it works its way deeper. Been lucky on flash burns. Did have some eye irritation one time that lasted a few hours after work with my 110v mig. Went out and got an auto-darkening hood. Would never go back to a manual.
After grinding I close my eyes tight and remove the PPE while"looking" at the ground. Then I muss up my hair vigourously to shake out the little buggers so they don't end up in my eyes. I did have to get one sliver out when I was young. The doctor was as old as the average Hamber, with poor close up vision and shaky hands. Not a fun time.
I use a set of shooting goggles, just like motocross goggles. They have foam all around the edges. Also Ive learned here on the HAMB to use compressed air and clean myself off before removing googles/mask. Alot of times the slivers can fall in your eyes when removing your safetey gear. Blowing yourself clean can help prevent that.
Isn't it heaps of fun to have to keep your eye wide open and still while the shaky needle is coming.......
Can’t say I have any metal related issues with my eyes, but have truely taken on board what people have said here. Will certainly think twice now.
Many Many moons ago I purchased one of the first auto dark welding helmets, very pricey at the time as I did some tig welding occasionally in my shop. I thought it was super until I did a few hours with it and later in the evening I went to the ER with the worst welding flash burn I ever received. The batteries had gotten weak which slowed the auto dark down and after talking with dealer and manufacturer, it was a problem, Nobody mentioned this when I purchased it so from that time forward I had a box of double A batteries setting by helmet with a log book of date and use, changed often, no more problems after that. Like all men that work in a shop and a car guy getting crap in the eyes happen and I always wore eye protection. This was my first experience with a DR saying there will be some mild discomfort after the numbing agent wears off, DR had removed a steel chip. DR speak/mild discomfort=Hurts like hell. I'm a Tradesman, Tool & Die Maker/ Pattern Maker, both cards and a car guy so I consider myself fortunate and lucky that I never received a severe or permanent disability type injury. I preached safety in my shop, 36 years in business, only one employee serious injury, sawed his thumb off but the Drs reattached it so he was lucky only lost a joint, a stiff thumb better than no thumb. When I was an apprentice and Old Timer minus a few digits always told me, you need all those fingers, Be Careful, Stop and Think, no Xtra money for Stupidity.
Yea . . . but you could actually see your bead during that welding session which is pretty stinking satisfying!!
I always try to keep a small magnet around for those times when a sliver or chunk of rust gets in my eye when working on these old rust buckets. I was turned on to this tip years ago and so far has worked when needed.
Yep, my high school buddy was a good, but careless, arc welder back in the 60's. I thought he was crazy when he put chopped up potatoes over his eyes to relieve the pain. It worked. Just had to lay down for awhile until the burning went away. People think you're crazy when you tell them about potatoes.
My chip story. When you get an MRI and you tell them you work in a machine shop, they x-ray your eyes to make sure there's nothing in your eye before you go in. You don't want it to pull through your eye and out the back of your head. They don't check your hands. Little did I know, I had a chip deep in my thumb. First, it sort of itched and tickled. Then, it pulled through my thumb from somewhere beneath the print and out through the tip. That part hurt like shit. And they are telling you to be still. My ass. My flash story. I was in a shop with 10A 120v power. A friend had an engine driven welder and came over to weld a bunch of 4 link brackets on to my axle housings. I was the holder while he tacked. When I was looking away, I could see the reflection in the car's headlights. Between the tacking and welding, we were at it all day. A few hours later, it was dark. They started to burn. It wasn't like sand, it was like Drano. Then they started to water. Like a bunch. Then, I was totally blind. I was alone in the back of the shop. Door was open and was in a shit hole part of town. My shirt and pants were soaked with tears. I sat 'till after daybreak before I could barely see again. It took days to go away. Mike
In the late '70s, I was team tube welding on new powerhouse construction with a guy named Kevin who seemed to get flash burned pretty regularly. He couldn't seem to keep from catching the UV rays when I started a pass. He used grated raw potato which helped. We were on the U.S. side of the St. Clair River and had several Canadian Boilermakers working on our crew. When one of them got flashed, he'd pull out a little bottle of Butenhydrate and drop some in his eyes. It numbed the eye almost immediately. It was available in Canada with a prescription but illegal in the U.S. so when they came back after a weekend, they would bring some back for us. Kevin still got flashed, but it didn't hurt him anymore.
With flashburns raw potatoes are your best friends! Sliced or Shreaded it don’t matter as long as theirs lots of potato juice!
I have been in the garage all my life. I never were safety glasses at home, I do wear prescription glasses. We are required at work to wear safety glasses (the company pays for prescription safety glasses) In 42 years of being in a garage and 20 years as a fabricator the only two times I have had to have steel removed from my eye was when I was at work! Both times I heard the steel bounce of the inside of the side shield of the glasses (side shields don’t fit tight on prescriptions) then the price of steel went into my eye! Personally I find the people who are all wound up on wearing safety glasses are the same people who are completely reckless in every other manner of work safety! They are the same ones who get under cars without jackstands, don’t chain down welding tanks or use safety catches or block hydraulics when workin on dump bodies with them up etc…
I have no idea if there is any truth to this or if it's just an old welder's tale (and I have no desire to test it). But supposedly when you get a flash burn you go stare at the sun. Don't know for how long and it doesn't make sense to me. And like I said there is no way that I will test it. I do know that the guy who told me this is long gone but he could weld anything but the crack of dawn. RIP Tony.
never had a flash burn. my auto darkening helmet is solar powered, so if you don't use it for a long time I set it in the sun for a bit before welding. I have started a weld and it did not darken, but I guess the lens itself offers enough protection for a quick flash. had one sliver removed from my eye that got there overnight while sleeping. doc said "oh, you've done this before", told him no, then he told me I had rust on my eyeball. I guess that one fell out. always wear safety glasses when needed. always wear my helmet when welding. always think about not poking an eye out, cutting off a finger, flash burns or other issues when I am working. I think 4 years of woodshop in high school pounded safety into my brain especially around spinning sharp objects. one kid got his fingertip tore off and a tendon pulled out of his arm using the planer. that is a special kind of stupid right there. tendon was still on the planer bed when we got to class. yuk
I sure as hell don't know everything and I know this sounds crazy, but it's been my experience that goggles attract small slivers. I wear the full face shield and haven't had any further problems. Never got a flash burn. Just my opinion/experience.
I've had metal scraped out 3 times, but I've been fortunate with flashes. Nothing worse than a little soreness overnight. The worse thing I've endured was at the salvage yard in the cold while dismantling a 90s pos heater control the dash exploded. A chunk of plastic found its way past the goggles and ruptured my left eyeball. Micro surgery and 9 stitches to fix it. The surgeon found it remarkable how quickly the eye healed, however 2 months later, the stitches started raising hell, worse pain than the injury. Had to have them removed, doc says only 4 to 6 cases out of a 100,000 require that. Cactus Drilling used to have a sign in every doghouse " Eyes, Ears, Fingers, Feet, Hands, These are parts not stocked at the warehouse. Use care with what you have!
Chemical burns can damage your eyes, too, and they can happen when you least expect it from sources that you could never anticipate. Some 30+ years ago I was mowing the lawn on a windy early fall day beneath a walnut tree. I ran over a few green walnuts that had fallen and the mower blade shredded the hulls, spraying their juice into the air as the wind blew it back into my eyes. Instantly blinded in one eye. It felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to my eye socket. I abandoned the mower immediately, left it running as I stumbled into the house and put my face under the kitchen faucet. Half an hour later my neighbor came by to ask me something and saw my dilemma. I asked if he could go back to his house a half mile away and bring some eyewash. A few minutes later he returned and we did what we could to wash it out of my eye, which had turned beet red and was swollen grotesquely. The pain lingered for hours and I joined my then-girlfriend (we've now been married 32 years) at a dinner party. She introduced me to her close friends who were impressed by my swollen-shut eye and the bloodshot other eye. The next day my sweetie took me to an opthamologist who prescribed some antaibiotic eyedrops that also numbed the eye. It took more than a month before my pain was completely gone and much longer before my damaged eye was no longer blurry. I rake up walnuts now before I mow. NEVER want that to repeat.
I got a sliver from drilling a hole for an exhaust hanger. Dang thing got in my hair and jumped into my eye later. I thought I got it out Friday night. Never bothered me at all Saturday or Sunday. Got up for classes Monday morning and couldn’t open my eye, too sensitive to light. That was 1974 at Md U. My health insurance was $5 a semester. They couldn’t get it out and sent e to an optical surgeon. He got the sliver out, then I had to go back two more times to get the ring of rust out. Got to wear a patch for two or three weeks.
WOW!!!! We have a huge pecan tree in our front yard. Hope pecans aren't toxic! haven't had any problem so far and have mowed in a dust storm.
Good to be warned about the walnut juice. I've got two trees in the front yard, and the nut husks certainly stain your hands brown, but I didn't know of the eye danger.
The Jalopy Journal
