i took a shot from a nail gun in my right eye. Iwas about twenty feet away and inside the house while some guys were sheathing the outside. Guy had his finger on the trigger and caught the side of the stud and the nail gun fired. The nail went thru about thiry rafters running different directions and caught me in the eye. Not for sure if it hit my eye first or my nose. Either way the impact seperated my pupil which until today and i quess as long as i still live will be that way. I stayed in the bed for a week because any kind of strain would cause my eye to bleed on the inside so i had to take it easy. Now I don't step on a job without safety glasses. I took my warning shot very seriously.

 

Think Safe...Be Safe...
We get checked for PPE at the gate...I always get extra to take home and wear it....You were lucky this time...Be safe people...Can you imagine being where I am and something were to happen, not a pretty thought.

 

yep, anytime you go to working with metal, you need to protect your eyes. I'm glad nothing happened to your eye, that wouldv'e been bad. A couple of years ago I was hammering on a pin, and being young and dumb I didn't check the metal the pin was made of. It was hardened steel and as soon as I hit it with my 2lb. hammer it shot a piece off and embeded in my chin. I had to push on the skin around the metal so my helper could get the piece out with a pair of needle nose. that was my wake up call.

 

It could have been a LOT worse, glad that it wasnt. Like all others have said, wear your safety glasses.

A couple of years ago, I was putting some exhaust on my old gasser, and was cutting with a hacksaw, and a piece of metal fell into my eye. I didnt think much of it, tried making myself cry to get it out, wash it out with water, etc. I could see it in my eye in the mirror. I noticed that my vision wasnt that good, and called around some people to take me to the doctor. Everybody was in exams, but my girlfriend, who goes to a different college, she was done with her exams, and on her way home, so she came and took me to the eye doctor. The doctor had to remove the metal and some sand that had gotten into my eye, but I begged her to not make me wear a patch. The next day, my gf's cousin bought me a pair of safety glasses, and I also bought a pair. I hardly ever work under a truck without some.

 

Close call. As everyone has said safety glasses are required.
Back in the early 70's I needed to get over a barbed wire fence in a horse pasture. The wires were somewhat loose but strung fairly close together so I couldnt really get between them. It was a 5 foot fence. So I decided to climb it at the post. A wooden post. As I pulled myself up the top strand let loose. One may ask why well the 1 inch fencing staple came out flipped around and went right into my eye. I pulled it out and headed to the hospital. Was there for a couple weeks. Eye surgery wasnt what it is today. Wore a patch over both eyes for a while and the one eye for several months. Had 8 stitches in my eye. I see a perfect 20/400 out of that eye now. Eye safety is high on my priority list ever since.

 

Since no one else has pointed this out yet, you REALLY should have been wearing safety glasses!! Glad you didn't damage your eye.

 

Glad your ok.

When I was young I remember watching my dad work on his bike, he was doing something w/ the chain and it snapped off the sprocket hitting him directly in the eye. It was not a pretty sight and that event made me aware of eye saftey right away.

On a side note, have any of you ever had a nice sized hot piece of slag from welding land in your ear? Holy mother of marry does that hurt. That will bring any man to his knees.

 

Ouch !!! I've never had that happen But recently I started using foamies whenever I'm welding. Mainly because of grinding going on, loud air-carbon arc machine, and just general noise. My ears feel much better after a couple hours in the shop, and maybe a chunk of slag will just bounce or fall off them.

 

Yes I have, I was welding on a trailer for the auto shop in high school, and I was under it, and a piece fell in my ear. My ag teacher told me all he heard was me cussing loudly and the mig gun and helmet being thrown down. It was horrible.

 

I had a piece of hot slag go up my sleeve once when I was welding overhead. It left a pretty nice little track down my arm, and at the end of it, there was a little chunk of metal, all nicely cooled off after travelling through my skin...

Was wearing gloves, but not the heavy welding jacket.

Watched a kid set his ski parka on fire in welding shop once with the cutting torch.

 

the worst thing about slag in your ear is hearing it sizzle in there not too good

 

I have to say it......

"It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye...."

 

That's why you're supposed to wear safety glasses UNDER your face shield. Safety is a big deal in the construction industry. We require all of our guys to wear OSHA approved safety glasses even if they're just walking around the site doing nothing. If cutting or grinding they also have to wear a face shield.

I almost always have sunglasses on when I am outside. While they are not OSHA approved (at least I don't think they are), they have saved me several times while weedeating or doing other odd jobs around the house. One time I even tried to set the hook on a fish only to have the lure come flying out of the water straight at my face. Had I not been wearing sunglasses I would have had a treble hook embedded in my eye.

Safety glasses WORK!!

 

yeah, well what did I know back then. I was all of 22 years old. And if I recall, the face shield was all we had available to wear at that place.

 

Yea that slag in the ear is no funny business.

It also hurts to get slag burn through your shoes. I was dumb and decided I would stand over a frame and weld it, well I had my New Balance running shoes on that have mesh over the toe area and I suddenly felt this hot burning sensation between my toes. It wasen't as bad as the slag in your ear but it will deffinetly make you dance around like a fairy.