Hello All, Back in late May I was in a nasty auto accident. I was left with a variety of broken bones which have mostly healed now in addition to hsving battery acid in my eyes. That part of the damage has left me without sight in my right eye and somewhat blurry vision in my left. The doctors have been able to correct the left eye to a little less than 20/30 so I can function. All this to ask for recommendations from any other slightly vision impaired woodworkers on coping with the less than perfectly sharp vision I have. Are there particular lighting option or measuring tools, magnifiers, and so on that you have found to be helpful? I’ve recuperated enough to be thinking about getting back into the shop but will probably need to make some changes to the way I work. I am a hobby woodworker, so I don’t need to be able to work a 40 hour week in the shop.
Thanks in advance,
John
Replies
The first thing I'd recommend is getting prescription safety glasses. I got my first pair a few weeks ago, and I can't tell you how much better they are than any glasses+safety glasses arrangement! I wear contact lenses 99% of the time, but when occasionally I ditch the contacts to get better close-up vision, and the Rx safety glasses are fantastic. Any optometrist can order them for you with your Rx.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
I'll second Forestgirl's advice, ANSI-rated safety glasses with side shields aren't any more expensive than "street" glasses. I also have a big pair of wrapaound plastic safety glasses with a bifocal insert - they're great for close work. Got mine at Woodcraft, but most of the online stores have them too.
Hang in there, my dad lost the sight in one eye and managed to run a pretty successful upholstery business for quite a few years.
Just take it easy, go slowly and carefully.
Ray
Thanks for the suggestion for the Rx safety glasses. They should help as much as possible, but because of the scar on my cornea, the best they can correct me to is somewhere between 20/30 and 20/40 so things will still be a little fuzzy even with the prescription. That being the case, I'm curious if people have any suggestions for tasks like accurately cutting to a line, making sure the joints are tight during glue ups, reading the 16ths and finer on scales and so on. All those things generally want pretty close inspection.Thanks Again,
John
First, I am really sorry about this horrible accident. Sometime back, I heard about a blind (yes, completely blind woodworker) who was somehow able to function in the shop.Here is a link to his story:http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Blind_woodworkers_story.htmlAnd here is a link to another forum that is devoted to those woodworkers who are either blind or have serious sight impairment:http://blindwoodworker.com/Kudos to you for persevering.....................********************************************************
"It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."
John Wooden 1910-
It has always startled me to discover what amazing work is turned out by folk with vision problems, my sister in laws husband has to turn everything off and literally put his nose to his work to see how cuts are going, he is a model engineer with very many show winning awards to his name.
My reason for posting is to suggest you ignore measurements as far as possible and use story sticks, stop blocks, and comparison to dimension parts. Thus for lengths I use pegboard, marking through holes with a transfer punch to repeat exactly rather than measure and get it near. Then the dimples made are felt by the marking knife. I use blocks to determine depths of cut on table saw and the RAS because it is repeatable. All this because I was getting fed up with being constantly out of focus despite changing specs and forgetting where they were. Very few measurements need to be exact, most need to be repeatable.
I hope this helps, David.
John, Sorry to hear of the accident also. While my eyesight is not so bad, as long as I am looking through these coke-bottles. I like wearing an optivisor whenever I need better vision. Here is a link, and there are options for different strengths of lenses. You might even think about getting the head-light to get the light where you need it.
I have three of these. It saves time when I start looking for one. because the odds are 3 times better.
I like the #4 lens. It's focal length is about 10" away. The higher the # the closer you will need to hold the work to get it into focus if you are already wearing something to correct your vision. Good luck, Keith
http://www.brent-krueger.com/magnifiers.html?source=google
Also, If you will do a google search for lasers to add to your tools, I think they would be nice if you can find a way to mount them onto your tools. A friend of mine came by the shop today with a little battery powered circular saw that he had bought today at one of the big-box stores for $40 that had one on it.
Edited 11/30/2006 7:10 pm by KeithNewton
Optivisors and similar devices have what are classified as simple lenses. In simple lenses, there is an inverse relationship between magnification and focal length. For higher magnifications, the focal length may be within a couple inches of your face. With sharp woodworking tools, this may get uncomfortable. One solution is to use "binocular loupes." These have compound lenses, so that the focal distance can be much longer. For instance, I have a binocular loupe which has 3X magnification, but a focal length of 12" or so. A 3X optivisor would have a focal length of 2" or so.
Here's a link to an inexpensive one --- http://www.loupe-magnifier.com/edroy-binocular-loupe.htm -- and there are others out there. (Dentists and medical technicians often wear binocular loupes. Theirs cost a great deal more.)
Hey Jamie, Thanks for showing me where to find those binocular loupes. I would like to try them, however I am OK with what I have, and was aware of the shortened depth of field with increased magnification. You may not have noticed that I mentioned using a #4 which is not 4X. I have forgotten what it is, probably not more that 2X.Lately, when I want to see something really magnified, I use my camera which is a canon S2 IS. It has a macro mode where I can use the zoom feature and get really tight shots from a few feet away, but also has a super macro, where I can literally put the lens against the subject, and capture something smaller than a stamp, then view it on my monitor full size.
Edited 12/1/2006 1:13 pm by KeithNewton
I have similar vision problems, that being said;
1. Lighting in the shop: I probably have more lights per sq ft than anyone around here. I have 8 4 tube fixtures in a small shop. Makes it easier to do everything.
2. I found a tape measure with LARGE numbers at Woodworkers Supply. Will have to get the the mfr and model for you.
3. Take your time and go slow. This was the hardest thing for me to learn.
Hang in there!
I have 6 - 8' tubes that are 110 watts on my ceiling for the entire shop (12X24) & 4 40 watt tubes 3' over my bench. It isn't the total fix, but it helps
Richard the fourth
Another member of the Vision-That-Sucks Club here. Several knife and laser surgeries too numerous too count for correcting diabetes related retina problems plus cataract surguries on top of that and it sounds like we're in similar predicaments. Here's a few things that have helped me:
- Optivisor that others have mentioned
- Stand mounted 500W Halogen lights (2) that I can reposition and aim to get bright light where I need it.
- Large 6-8" desk mounted magnifier with light. This comes in real handy for setting a combo square to a 32nd or 64th ruler line ONCE then transferring measurements to stock rather than trying to do it at the stock and reading/marking.
- The whole dust mask thing is something that I (and probably you as well) need to research. I know there are pricier solutions out there that wont cause glasses to fog but I don't have that problem licked yet.
- If possible try to minimize measuring and instead transfer marks and/or use stop blocks to set cut lines.
- Even before the vision problems one of my favorite tools was a 3" Incra T-Rule. I rely on it more than ever since the vision problems. I find it easier to see the holes to insert the pencil for drawing a line parallel to an edge than reading a line on a ruler. That could just be my particular vision thing though.
- Contrast.Contrast.Contrast. - Get some white or yellow colored pencils from an art supply store for writing on darker colored woods.
That's the ones that come to mind at the moment. Don't know if any of these will help with your particular vision problem, but those have helped mine.
If you build it he will come.
I'm going to echo the "don't measure" saying. I use story sticks, blocks, or make gauge sticks instead of measuring settings or dimensions. It takes more time at the beginning to make these but during the project it will go faster and I don't mess up measurements.I use a shooting board and hand plane a lot to get final fit. That doesn't require great vision and you get good accuracy.Cutting to a line or free hand routing to a line can be a challenge. I find that good lighting at the "point of cutting" hwlps a lot. I have several different types and arrangements of portable lighting to help with that. I'll also take the time to make a template and use a pattern bit in the router just to avoid the routing to a line issue. Takes longer, but, it's a hobby, right?
Again, many thanks to all for the suggestions. I guessed that better lighting would be needed and will look into more of the story-stick, stop block, direct marking approach. I had forgotten about the Incra rulers with the holes in them and I can see where they'd be very helpful. Has anyone tried using chalk or something to make scribe lines from a marking knife more visible? I like the marking knife because I can feel the line with a chisel tip. And finally, I will definitely take it slow, I don't need any more injuries, even of the minor nick variety.
Re: using chalk to highlight......... I don't think I would recommend chalk. I tried it to mark and keep track of dovetailed drawer parts; I wiped/sanded it off the final pieces. Yet, after the drawers were finished I could see a faint, but still visible chalk mark.You would think that chalk marks would be easy to remove, but for me at least they weren't.********************************************************
"It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."
John Wooden 1910-
hey jkling,
thanks for posting. this discussion was very interesting and full of great ideas. good luck with your challenges and thank you for helping me to appreciate the everyday blessings that i tend to take for granted.
greg
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