It's time for some new eyes! - Family Woodworking

I have never need glasses, my eyesight has always been 20/20 or better. At my last eye exam the doc told me I'm at that age where I'll probably be needing some reading glasses before long. I've noticed over the past few months the marks on the tape are starting to move around on me, and when I read my arms need to be about two inches longer. I picked up a set of reading glasses at the drug store and they have really helped for the reading part. My question is what do y'all do for glasses in the shop?

Hi from your FWW eye doc,

Statistically, if you have 20/20 uncorrected, you will fall into the "Hey, I gotta move it further away to see it." category at age 43 1/2, Be glad you have lived long enough to enjoy this problem. Also I hope that you live long enough to need cataract surgery. The preceding two problems happen to all humans who live long enough. The age of cataract onset varies drastically however according to your health, where you live, who your parents are, what you eat, how much water you drink, how much you are out in the sun not wearing sunglasses and a few thousand other things.

Rob, as a group we live longer now so there are many more people who need to wear glasses. They have become similar to shoes in that almost everyone has a pair.

Tom. That face shield is a hundred miles from being as effective as a pair of safety glasses. If you were my son, I would twist your arm to get safety glasses. Get them with side shields. Get them from an eye doc who has many sample frames for you to try. If the doc is trying to fit you from a picture of safety glasses or he only has 5 samples, he/she is not into safety glasses and will miss a lot of the subtleties that make for a happy safety glasses wearer.

You will want the reading part of the Rx focused at 16inches (NOT the 13 inches many docs fit to). 13 inches is just plain too short for woodworking. The shorter the focal length, the smaller the depth of field (How close you can see clearly to how far you can see clearly through that portion of the lens.). 13 in will not give you enough depth of field---you will find yourself leaning over the drill press, lathe, scroll saw, etc. in order to see.

The "No line" bifocals are fine for general living (reading the paper, using a screwdriver, going to the movies, driving your car, etc.), however they do cause some distortions that may drive you crazy if you do Fine Woodworking (furniture, cabinets, boxes, etc.). If you take a picture through a no line bifocal you will see that lines are not straight---It is the nature of the beast. In general expensive ones are better than cheaper ones. VERY expensive ones are VERY much better. However that won't matter to most of us because the lenses are so expensive that you would not think of wearing them in the shop---figure over $550.oo just for the lenses.

A straight top bifocal (25mm wide) will keep your lines straight and give you vision a bit clearer than $550.oo no line. Do not pay for a wider bifocal. You will not use that part of the lens. I know it sounds like you would, but you won't. When something get that far to the side (blue print, table top, etc.) you head will turn automatically because your nose is now cutting off part of your field of vision. If your head did not turn you depth perception would drop drastically.

If there is over +1.50 diopters of power above the distance perscriptipn you will need to go to a trifocal to see well from about 20 inches to 3 feet or more (there is a lot of wood working going on in that range). A no line bifocal covers that distance automatically, however not as clearly.

A pair of glasses cannot legally be called "Safety glasses" unless the lenses are in a Safety Frame. Even though it does not break the lens, it does not do you much good if something hits your glasses, knocks the lens back so it can act like an ice cream scoop. The frame has to hold that lens---you really want it to hold that lens.

Stuart, Most drug stores carry glasses lens cleaner that prevents steaming lenses. It works great; it is cheap. A "Face Shield" is NOT a Safety lens. You are supposed to wear safety glasses behind the face shield. It does not matter what that shield is made of---It is NOT a safety lens.

Statistically far more glasses are damaged off of a person instead of on their nose where they belong. Have a multi-focal (Bifocal, Trifocal, No-line) and leave it on your face. If you damage it, be glad it wasn't your eyeball that got damaged. Unless your glasses are a terrible misfit they are not going to fall off of your face---but they sure can and do fall out of pockets. On your face the lenses are not going to get abraded unless you were in real danger. The sure get abraded if you put them in a pocket with chips, screws, tools, etc. They also get abraded if you don't clean them before you wipe them. I don't know about you but all kinds of stuff ends up in my pockets when I work in the shop.

Wearing safety glasses on a cord around your neck may be cool; but for eye protection that's not so hot.

Anyone: Do not hesitate to PM me if you have questions. Jim C Bradley.

Enjoy,

JimB

Source: http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?26867-It-s-time-for-some-new-eyes!

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