Arc Eye and Fume: Measure the Two Injuries That Arrive After You Finish

Most workshop injuries announce themselves. Welding has two that do not: arc eye, which arrives six to twelve hours after the exposure, and metal fume, whose damage accumulates over years. Because neither hurts at the time, both are routinely ignored by people who would never put a bare hand on hot stock. Being told this changes nothing. Measuring it does. This session strikes no arc. You will find the working distance of your own extraction with an incense stick and an anemometer — the distance beyond which it captures nothing — and then check your helmet for the light leaks that let UV past a lens that looks perfectly fine. Both numbers are specific to your bench, and neither is the number most people guess.