Quote:
Originally Posted by Speedslug
Couple of things here;
Yes , welders shade 3 will be safe enough for "blowing glass" but "blowing glass" has to do with molten glass in a -crucible- inside a kiln and blow pipes with gobs glass on the end of the pipes. Mostly you are dealing with infrared radiation.
Lampwork or flame work has to do with melting glass in a torch flame and the temperatures can be quite a bit hotter giving off other types of radiation such as the sodium flare of the "softer glasses" ( the yellow flare that makes it hard to see what you are doing in the flame) and even the brighter ultraviolet light as well as light our eyes can not register from the "harder glasses" like boro and quartz.
Soft glass needs didymium or A.C.E. lens eyewear and harder glass needs that kind of protection as well as welders shade number 5.
I see that this is your first post and I applaud your asking questions.
I would point you to researching all of the safety threads and using the search functions both the over all search at the top right of the page as well as the sub forum search just below that for each sub forum.
It is really important that you get a good understanding of why "more available" forms of eye protection wont keep you safe.
There are less expensive versions of 'adequate eyewear' from some lampworking retail places like Whale Apparatus and Devardi and they are worth looking into. But it will almost always be a case of you get what you pay for.
But there really are not any good short cuts for eye protection in the long run.
The damage to your eyes from getting it wrong is not repairable and it accumulates slowly over time so work arounds that seem like they are working can be deceptive.
I recently changed from the least expensive glasses I could fine ( $60 some ten years ago ) to a bench shield with a 5 by 6 inch didymium sheet in it. Since I wear glasses anyway the old fit overs were a hassle and working with a bench shield lets me my color choices before it goes into the flame behind the shield as well.
I got my shield from a craigs list add form across the country for $75 3 years ago but I lucked out on that find and I had been searching for a few years when I found that.
Take your time and do this part right.
You only get to do it wrong once before you regret it for a very long time.
Edited to Add: And Welcome to the Addiction.
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did you read the question?