Welding mask

Lke the other posters said be very selective in what you protect your eyes with.

I'll give my speach again about using plastic lens. Plastic causes a lens distortion creating two weld puddles, one being the correct weld puddle and one phoney puddle that will distract you. You have to be looking for the second phoney weld puddle but it's there.

Glass will not distort the weld puddle. The finest glass welding lens that I've ever used is called "Cool-Ray lens". This welding lens has a thin layer of gold on the outside and is all glass lens. I like shade #10 as it's like a normal shade 11. The #10 is good for all stick welding. I use a #12 for some Mig and alot of my Tig welding exspecailly if out side. Between these two lens is all I ever used. The cost about $60 for a cool-ray lens. I use a clear glass lens, then the cool-ray, then another clear glass on the inside. If you scratch the gold the lens is ruined. I've only broke one cool-ray lens in the past 25yrs I've been using them and that was from dropping my hood several stories.

Along with a great lens you might as well get the finest welding hood and that is a Huntsman 411P. It's a very light weight paper fiber hood. I cut a piece of soft suede leather from a long cuff welding glove and attach that to the neck part of the hood. This keeps the skin in the V of your shirt from getting burned and dingle berries from getting into your shirt while overhead welding and close up Tig welding. I use a thin strip of 22ga SS x 3/8" wide and sandwich the leather to the hood with pop rivets. So I end up with a SS Band, leather, hood, SS band on the inside of the hood. Use 1/8" long SS pop-rivets. I cut the leather 6"x7" to start with then trim for comfort once attached.
I would suggest you start with a old hood first to see exactly what suits you before doing this to your best hood.

With this set-up your eyes will be cool at the end of the day and without strain.

Is glass safe? I've been wearing all glass eye correction for the past 50yrs and using all glass in my welding hoods for the past 35yrs. In that time I have had one cut that required a couple stiches from a auto accident caused by my eye glass cutting my eye brow.

T_Bone

The cheaper gold lens are usually plastic or I have one other glass gold lens that had a gold like plating but not the true 24k gold plate.

The fakes are a very bright yellow looking gold where as the true gold lens is a deep rich gold coloring. Very easy to see the difference and more so when you strike that first arc.

T_Bone

Link

ANSI Z-whatever-spec welding shades are supposed to be "legibly and permanently" marked with the shade number although it may be hard to see. I would not use any shade which is not marked with the ANSI spec number and the shade number - you just don't know what you're getting. Your eyesight is too high a price to pay to save a couple bucks on a no-name shade.

HTH

llater,

llamas