Eye Protection

I'm not sure that eye protection is needed when brazing
(soldering) jewelry items. The flame isn't that bright,... 

Other things might happen during soldering, the whole thing might
explode for instance. Happened to me once.

Maybe I'm wrong, but why waste money that you don't have to? 

Why take the risk of losing vision.

Alain

James,

For O/A torches, a Shade 5 or 6 is actually more appropriate. I have
those for in goggles and lenses for my helmets. I also TIG weld.

Jerry

For O/A torches, a Shade 5 or 6 is actually more appropriate. I
have those for in goggles and lenses for my helmets. I also TIG
weld. 

For O/A welding this is true but for brazing shade 3 is adequate. In
practice most studio goldsmiths don’t generate enough exposure to
the infra red from soldering / brazing to be in danger if we don’t
wear any type of filter. But if you solder all day long then you
should seriously think about wearing at least a shade 3. If you
experience eye fatigue at the end of a long day of soldering you may
want to try filters and see if your eyes feel better at the end of
the day. I don’t normally wear them except for when I am doing large
amounts of soldering work, I notice a positive difference at the end
of the day when wearing them.

Jim

James Binnion
@James_Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts

360-756-6550

Here’s an additional quandary I have with regard to this issue: I
can’t see without my glasses. And almost all work I do in my shop I
do with magnifying headgear… an old Magni-Focuser “halo” type item I
inherited from from father-in-law that has a boxy, protective front
that flips up if I need to see without the benefit of magnification.
I wear this thing all day… for carving and playing with PMC; for
tying knots at the ends of pearl necklaces; for all wire work, ring
cutting and chain weaving; whenever I’m lightly forging wire… and
when I’m using my small butane torch. I’ve always thought it was
enough. I don’t solder a lot… jump rings, an occasional bail or
back for a pin or set of earrings, so I’m not exposed a whole lot.
But I’m so used to working with this magnifier on my head, I can’t
imagine working without it. It’s not labeled, so I have no idea what
the magnification level is, but I think it’s probably 2x to 3x at
most. Are there any examples of dididium glass goggles out there that
are likely to fit both over my prescription glasses and beneath this
magnifier???

Karan

Forgive me for not following this thread. This website has everything
you need. http://www.auralens.net

Are there any examples of dididium glass goggles out there that are
likely to fit both over my prescription glasses and beneath this
magnifier??? 

For soldering, fusing, and melting, I wear a pair of didymium
spectacles over my own prescription eyeglasses, and they both just
fit under my Optivisor brand magnifier head loupe. I didn’t use that
protection until I got oxy-propane in the form of a Smith Little
Torch, which replaced my acetyline-air Prestolite torch. There
seemed to be more flux sodium flare, and I see through it much better
with the didymium lenses. I did not get these didymium eyeglasses
through Rio or Stuller. I think they came from an industrial supplier
of some kind.

M’lou Brubaker
Minnesota, USA
http://www.craftswomen.com/M’louBrubaker