The Tool For Every Tool

I must have at least 15 pairs of safety glasses floating around the shop. Too, I have a few in my range bag.

That said, I was always left guessing about where to buy and which to buy.  I knew I needed ANSI protection, but, oddly enough, never got around to the simple process of looking into it via this keyboard.

The video below landed on my screen this morning and I looked into it, out of curiosity. It was very informative.

Like most, in my early days, my safety glasses were the SQUINT brand. They didn't work well. They didn't work at all for those tiny metal flakes I got in my eye at work (did you know eye doctors use hypodermics as scalpels for removing metal shards from the eye).

Years in, I did buy lenses and discovered an interesting thing - at the end of the day, I had far less sawdust to flush from my eyes after running the tablesaw or weed eater. 

For that reason, alone, safety glasses became more routine.  Even now, the words of the late kid (brain cancer) who used to drop by my shop to dabble (perhaps ironically, he had a 10,000 square foot shop at home, but it was all metal/iron working equipment) play in my mind if he caught me running my sanders, grinders and saws without protection.

Anyway, this video gave some good information. I was more comfortable knowing we don't have to break the bank to get quality eye protection.  Good safety glasses can be had for as little as seven bucks ($7.00).

For general eye protection:  ANSI Z871

For greater eye protection:  ANSI Z871+  (A quarter inch steel ball is fired at 150 feet per second (150 - 250 FPS SURVIVABILITY) 

For top line eye protection: MILL PRF 31013 (15 CAL FRAGMENT AT 2,000 FPS SURVIVABILITY)