Safety Glasses

[JoeyGee]

I have finally decided it's time to replace my safety glasses. I currently have an old pair that was never very comfortable. I wear contacts, so I don't need prescription, just something safe and comfortable.

Recommendations?

[BobSch]

I'm probably overly cautious (my phone company safety training, I'm sure) but I usually use a full face shield like this http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=96461
with my regular prescription glasses. Probably overkill but it's what I'm comfortable with.

[Tom Slick]

I've always liked wilson safety glasses. I've found that if you pay more then $6 for safety glasses they tend to be much better.

My current safety glasses are prescription from wileyx (military supplier). They were $$$ but I wore them 50 hours a week at work so quality/durability and comfort were a big factor, they are also quite stylish!

[LCHIEN]

your optometrist should have a selection of ANSI Z87 approved safety frames, some that look like normal wear. They also have clip on side shields for flying debris and dust protection. And he can get safety lenses; about the only thing he can't get is the high index superlightweight lenses. I have progressives, with antireflection coating and transitions (auto-darkening) on mine. I wear them full time for work and play.

Many times your company will pay for safety glasses if you work in manufacturing, laboratory or shop environments and such glasses are required at least some of the time.

-Edit- Whoops, missed the part about wearing contacts and not needing prescription glasses. Oh, well, advice applies to those who need prescription glasses.

[jonmulzer]

You said you did not need prescription, I believe others read that wrong.

My best advice is to go try some on. Everyone's head is shaped differently. The first thing I do when I pick up a pair is look for any molding ridges that will fall on the bridge of the nose or the ear pieces. They will rub your skin raw and become very uncomfortable in short order. I prefer rubber ear and nose pieces over plastic. I make sure they fit snugly, but not tight. Long periods of wear will make a little bit too tight seem like your head is in a vise. Last, but most important is that I make sure they fit just close enough to my face to be effective. Some fit too closely to my cheeks and cause them to fog. I want a little bit of gap around the edges to allow for ambient airflow but you should look to the limits of your vision with your eyes and not be able to see around the lenses. If you can see outside of them, then something can get in.

Hopefully you do not have a huge melon like I do. I have to try on a hundred pair it seems to find some that fit. When you find ones you like buy one pair and wear them around the shop for a while and if they fit like a glove go back and buy several pair and store them away. I also like to pick up some cheapies at the same time to have others wear when they are helping out or working in my shop. They will not respect them, might lose them and will most likely scratch them. That is what the $3 glasses are for.

[LinuxRandal]

For non prescription (and what worked with my old glasses, not my new), I had good luck with AO Safety and Uvex. I am getting tired of having to find a new pair, that fits, everytime I get a new prescription and the old frames are no longer (and the eye Dr. "mom's boss" doesn't carry safety glasses). I started looking at the ones at Sam's tonight (prescription).

[Luckbox]

Well I know a few issues I was having with safety glass, most of the time they don't seem wide enough for my face and after a couple of hours they begin to hurt. Also when ever I out on a dust mask the glasses end up fogging. I am planning to switch to the full face shield. I feel they are more comfortable and I am hopping the fogging issue will not happen. Also by protecting the full face I feel a little more secure, I have had a couple of incidents where a chip has flung back at me, usually from a knot, and just like the cull face shield.

[cabinetman]

Well I know a few issues I was having with safety glass, most of the time they don't seem wide enough for my face and after a couple of hours they begin to hurt. Also when ever I out on a dust mask the glasses end up fogging. I am planning to switch to the full face shield. I feel they are more comfortable and I am hopping the fogging issue will not happen. Also by protecting the full face I feel a little more secure, I have had a couple of incidents where a chip has flung back at me, usually from a knot, and just like the cull face shield.

I agree with you. A flip up face shield offers more protection, and for me much more comfortable to wear.
.

[sd]

I find the Gateway Starlite safety glasses to be comfortable and have good visibilty. I bought a box of them a while back so I'd always have a pair available when I needed them. They're quite inexpensive if you buy them by the box (10 pairs per box).

[dlminehart]

Does the HF face shield flip up, and stay up, easily? Do you have problems with fogging while in use? How well does it work with ear protection in place as well?

[Schleeper]

Does the HF face shield flip up, and stay up, easily? Do you have problems with fogging while in use? How well does it work with ear protection in place as well?

It works fine, even with ear protection. Just don't use it the way I've been using it for the last few months.

I was just getting ready to write a response to say fogging isn't nearly as much of a problem as the shield's nearly translucent green tinting. When I saw the picture in the HF product listing, the clear shield made me think it must be a different model. In the process of checking mine, I discovered I've been using it with the cellophane coating still attached to both sides!

Looking at the bright side (which I now can do) it's like getting a new face shield. And I didn't have to go anywhere to get it!

[Jay]

Face Shields and Safety Glasses

Here’s a shortened version of an article Fine Woodworking ran in Nov/Dec 2006 (pages 74-76):

FACE SHIELDS
“When the heavy chips fly, reach for a face shield. Any task in which the tool forcefully throws large wood chips or other heavy flying particles (wood turning, for instance) calls for a face shield. A face shield consists of a large, clear visor mounted on a piece of adjustable headgear to flip up and down like a welder’s mask. Inexpensive models are available from both Woodcraft and Lee Valley Tools. Just like its name implies, a face shield is designed to prevent flying objects from striking the wearer in the face. It’s easy to feel like your eyes are well protected behind this clear shell, but safety experts say otherwise. Because a face shield is more or less open at the bottom, wood chips or other projectiles could get past it and into your eye. For that reason, the experts say, you should always wear safety glasses or goggles under a face shield. A face shield for your face, glasses or goggles for your eyes.”

REGULAR PRESCRIPTION GLASSES
“If you wear glasses, you might think they give you adequate eye protection in the shop. They don’t. Your glasses very likely offer no side protection at all, and they probably leave too much room between your brow or cheekbones and the rims of the glasses. Wood-chip projectile can dart through that gap. Some street glasses also have lenses of glass or acrylic that might not stand up to a direct hit from flying debris.”

GOGGLES
“Goggles provide more comprehensive coverage goggles are the most certain way of protecting your eyes from fast-flying debris and heavy floating dust. They’re better at this than safety glasses because they completely enclose the eyes, and they’re held snug to your face with an elastic head strap. Models with baffled air vents provide the best dust protection and also can protect your eyes against chemical splashes. For the best field of view, we preferred the full-face models that resemble a diver’s mask to the motorcyclist style with separate eyepieces.” 



Here’s a video called “Shark's Eye for a Straight Guy” that will help you remember to wear your safety glasses:

[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A11tqBhEn9Q&feature=related"]

One more word about regular prescription glasses:
I remember reading somewhere that during an impact accident the nose bridge on regular glasses can injure your eye even if the lenses stay intact. Sorry I can’t find the reference but it makes sense that those little pads that rest on your nose could get pushed into your eye during an impact.

[Tom Slick]

face shields are considered secondary eye protection and primary face protection. you should always have glasses on underneath.

once again I recommend buying a more expensive face shield. comfort, protection, and durability all go up significantly when you spend $30 on a face shield vs $9.95.

[gbtower]

I find a face shield more comfortable than my goggles so use it more, but stuff definitely likes to come in through the top and bottom when using tools that like to fling stuff around, like circ saw vs jig saw, or doing overhead work. If I could find a comfortable pair of goggles, I would ditch the shield in a heartbeat.

[pelligrini]

I haven't tried out any of the expensive glasses, but out of all the others my Uvex ones are the most comfortable. They look like the Astrospec 3000 model with the clear lenses: http://www.uvex.us/products/products1.asp?id=1 I can wear those for a long time. When I came in from the shop at the end of the day Sunday I forgot I had them on.

I have some more stylish (and most importantly smaller) glasses for jobsite visits. They're slim enough to slide into my pocket. I've tried several types in the shop, but I always end up with that first pair mentiond. On a really windy day I might use my goggles, it has to be pretty bad to put on those fog machines though.