[TheForge] FW: Didymium? I say "no way."

[Mike Spencer]

> I've done heavy research into vision enhancement for hot work over
> the last year for one of the key chapters in my next book.
> ...
> Michael Porter (AKA Mikey, AKA Dr. Frankenburner)

Thanks for the research and write-up!

Here's a little factoid that you might address:

On my only visit to a steel mill, I was loaned a pair of glasses to
use when watching the open hearth furnace being tapped into a ladle.
They were deep blue and the guys said that was what they all used.
Later I happenen to get welding goggles -- the kind with a rectangular
2x4 pane -- in the same dark blue.  How does this (cobalt glass??) fit
into the filtering specs for IR?  Is this shade universal in steel
mills or just consistent with the other Edwardian technology at the
mill I visited?

I rarely use them except for fun.  They essentially cut out *all* the
yellow.  Hot things become a stunning crimson.  If you drive with them
on on a bright day (death wish on a dim day) all the yellow warning
signs become almost invisible.  Grass and trees are a muddy,
depressing red about like dried blood.


- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^