Safety first!

[The Red Wonder]

Last night, a tiny piece of steel flew off while I was grinding, made it past my safety glasses and in to my eyeball. I didn't think too much of it at the time, but then it started kind of hurting this morning. I tried rinsing it out, but it was stuck. Made a few phone calls and had an appointment with an eye doctor a few hours later. By the time the doctor pulled it out (with tweezers!!) the piece had rusted. This was all in under 20 hours!

ALWAYS WEAR PROTECTION, is what I'm getting at here




You can see the little ring of rust at about 2 o'clock in my eyeball below.

 

[teazer]

I had the same thing last summer and went to the emergency room an hour later so mine did not rust.

Don't take this the wrong way, and I won't go as far as to tell you you have a beautiful eye - your partner/wife/girl can do that. But that eye does look amazing in that shot. Don't think I have ever looked at an eye photo that large before.

 

[Big R]

It's kinda creepy.......the rust in the eye and the large pic.

Where I work there are guys that have to grind radii on freshly bored engine blocks so they don't crack during the heat treat process. When I started, safety glasses were the only thing that was mandatory. Then came the flip up face shields, and now they have enclosed helmets with a fresh air tube.

And we always tell the new guys "God gave you two eyes.....having one is not really optional". Glad to hear you'll keep your peeper.

 

[The Red Wonder]

Hahaha!! Thanks guys, I happen to like my eyes too...the crazy bloodshot-ness definitely adds to the beauty!

Rich - I am seriously considering investing in a face shield. I've started wearing a painters respirator while grinding too, I'm tired of blowing black boogers!

 

[mysta2]

Been there, I had it removed right away too though and was wearing safety glasses and a face shield when it happened. In one of the Motorcycle Manias Jessie describes a time when a doctor had to carve all the rusted material out of one of his eyes from the same deal... That story's always stuck with me, that's why I went straight to the ER.

Stop thinking about a face shield, and get one, it'll pay for itself 20 times over the first time you don't have to go to the ER. Nothing's 100% though.