Going Blind!

[Shelly]

OK - here's a new one that many of you may already be experiencing! I don't really have a heavy prescription for my glasses/contacts - but, at 49, and after all the years of very close work with the braiding, etc, I've now found I'm having some frustration 'seeing' what I'm tooling, hand-stitching, etc...mostly because of age related focusing issues, I think. I have plenty of light over my work area, but I like a more concentrated, yet not blindingly white light, directly on the area I am working on - also, I don't 'see' what I'm working on as well as I could - even with the glasses on - probably need a new prescription...I have a light that has a 'circle' tube, and the center is a magnifier - I actually used it yesterday and today, to carve, tool, and finish cut a floral belt...I couldn't believe how much easier it was! Like doing flowers and leaves 4" in diameter! (1 1/2" belt)

So, my question formed while I was doing this and feeling really dumb looking thru the top of this magnifier, and having to be very careful to not break the glass on the tube while running my tools - surely someone on this forum is using some type of magnification device that also has light with it to illuminate the work! I'm thinking about what would a gun engraver be using - they have such a tiny area to fill with so much, and I know it must be much more tedious than the carving that we do - so, if there is something out there available that will do this for them, I want that tool myself!!

I've even tried to wear my contacts (for distance - from the ends of my fingers to...), to the shop, and when I needed to sew a binding, etc, I put those magnifying readers on - works better than trying to see what I'm doing that closeup with just the bifocals (no line type). I believe if I keep on like this I'll strain my eyesight even more than necessary, then what!?

Can't wait to hear what the suggestions are - in the meantime, I'll try surfing the net for something interesting!

Thanks to all,

SL

[bruce johnson]

Shelly,

I am with you on the bifocal deal for sewing bindings and horns. They aren't designed to tip your head in that direction.

I use the magnifiers for some surgeries. I have used from the low end Optivisors up to good quality clip on lenses. The problem I have with them mostly is that they have a fixed focal distance. Some may be as fixed as 16-18". If you are outside of that, you are blind. I can see the area, and not be able to tell one tool in the using rack or one instrument from another. I look around or under the lens to find them, and then continue to look around the lens to use them. We gave a ride back fromKings reception at Sheridan to a guy from Kentucky. He was there selling kind of a decent little light and lens setup. His business is QED, Inc. They advertise in the LCSJ, and I just found a web address - www.qedisit.com.

For lights, if I need a focused area light, I have an exam room floor lamp like the doctors blind you with in the little rooms. They are a floor lamp with a stiff gooseneck up higher. They can be had at medical surplus and used medical equipment suppliers. Kind of handy around a sewing machine at times, and will really light up under a Cheyenne roll. If they are not shining directly at you, they are good.

[cybertracy]

Hi Shelly,

A couple months ago I began using the same setup as you, circle light/magnifyer, even though I had to contort my arms/tools/lamp to avoid striking the underside. It made the work so much clearer it was worth it (although I believed I've never had vision problems nor the need for glasses). What seemed to happen is after using the setup for several weeks I seemed to NEED the magnifyer to do smaller details work. It may just be my imagination, but now I even use it to trace and for the larger work as well.

Does anyone know if using magnification can train your eyes to not focus as well close up?

[ClayB]

Shelly,

I have been having the same problem you describe now for about a year. I have never worn glasses in my life and the eye doctor says most people would be thrilled to have my distance vision. But close up work is getting tougher all the time. Last year I got prescription reading glasses that I wear when I am carving and they help a lot. They are a real pain when I get up and move around though. I think now that I should have gotten bifocals, but he thought those would be tough for me to get used to at work walking through matts of rebar when we pour concrete or are hanging rafters on building. The other thing is that my eyes seem to be getting worse all the time. I can tell that the prescription isn't working all that great anymore (less than a year old). Now when I carve I am wearing a headband magnifier over the glasses and it makes a big difference. Here is one I have been using. It's a pretty cheap one and the light broke off after the second or third time I tried to adjust it, but I have used the magnifier quite a bit. I also have a swing arm light with a magnifier on it kind of like the light tube magnifier you mentioned. It's tough to use that when tooling, getting the right distance to see and not bang the magnifier with your maul. I've seen a few people use the magnifier and light in classes that Bruce gave the link to and they really liked it. They did suggest the plug in version so you weren't constantly changing batteries on the light. There is a chart on the website that shows working distance with different magnification levels, and the higher mag, the closer you have to be to your work. Four inches doesn't seem very practical. The cheap ones I use have four different magnifications and I use the weakest one. Just checked and it is 1.2X. With that, I can see pretty good at normal working distance. I tried the next one 1.8 and I had to lean a little closer to my work to see clearly. With the 3X one, I had to get right up to the 4 inches they say. It really brings the work up to you, but there is no way I could tool like that. It also lets you see things WAY too good anyway.

Not sure if any of that helps you out, but at least you know you aren't alone.

[CitizenKate]

Hi Shelly,

I have the same issue with close-up vision. I've always had better than 20/20 vision in both eyes, until I hit about 40 and started noticing I couldn't focus on the date display on my wristwatch. But I can still read a road sign more than a hundred yards away. My eye doctor explained it this way:

The tissue that makes up the lenses in our eyes is rather flexible, and when we look at objects at different distances, the lens changes shape to focus on what we are looking at. As we age, the tissue continues to grow new cells, and becomes more dense. That, in turn, makes the lenses less flexible, and less able to focus at as wide a range of distances. This happens to just about everyone eventually.

I also asked my optometrist the question asked earlier of, "Can we train our eyes to focus better?" She said maybe making your eye work harder might help strengthen the muscles that move the lenses, but because the problem is that the lenses are getting stiffer, it won't make much difference, and you'll still be straining all the time. The good news is, there is new medical technology coming that will, in effect, make it possible for us to trade in our old stiff lenses, for new flexible ones.

But that's not here yet, so in the mean time, I got a pair of no-line multi-focal lenses (or "progressive" lenses) which change gradually from one focal length to another as I move my head. I really like them, because they give me a very wide focus range without having to change head gear.

I use flood lights mounted at different angles to light my work space, to minimize shadows as much as possible. For really close-up work (like most of my swivel knife work), I use a Magnivisor similar to the one Clay mentioned. That has made a huge difference in being able to see exactly where my knife blade is.

Kate

[David]

It sounds like you all could benefit from a trip to the eye doc. I have a pair of glasses with a prescription for computer work.... the same could be done for leather work. All you need to know is how far the workpiece is from your eyes.

In the meantime, check out some of the lighted headband magnifiers at MicroMark

http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp

That should get you there....

If I messed up the link, go to www.MicroMark.com and type in magnifier in the search box.

Dave Theobald

[TroyWest]

I've been wearing the optivisor to tool with for several years, the one that Dave just showed.

I already had one as I use it for engraving silver.

[TroyWest]

One other thought Shelly is that most western bright cut engravers simply use the optivisors.

Gun engravers have gone to using a microscope system where you are literally looking through eye pieces like a microscope with great magnification looking down at an engraving block. Not at all practical for tooling, and they are pretty expensive, starting around $1250.00 and up from GRS.

I get along well with the optvisor for tooling because you can flip it up and down easily but I do hate to wear it.

[JRedding]

You guys are really encouraging.

[anne newkold]

One of the people in my Wednesday night class has one of these. http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp?CAT...p;source=search

it hangs around you neck and rest against your chest. tried it out and it was comfortable and seem to hang where I wanted it to and it is lighted also