Aging.... blurry vision when tooling

[Northmount]

2 hours ago, Ed in Tx said:

just wait until you hit the 60's

Long past!  Have to wait for them to come around again someday!

Tom

[chriscraft]

2 hours ago, rodneywt1180b said:

My close vision started going a few years ago.  I'm getting by with dollar store reading glasses for close work.  They might help you until you get your prescription glasses.

I’ll stop by and pick up a pair. I’ve seen them before at the end of the isle  near the pharmacy at Walgreens. I’ll get the weakest set I can find, just need to see a little detail for now. 

I’m glad I’m not painting or doing any art projects for money anymore. That would really be a bummer.  I’m just making a few custom tooled Christmas gifts for the kids so my stuff doesn’t need to be perfect. 

[Northmount]

6 minutes ago, chriscraft said:

I’ll get the weakest set I can find

Try them on while you are there and pick what works for the distance you want to work at.

Tom

[rodneywt1180b]

1 hour ago, Northmount said:

Try them on while you are there and pick what works for the distance you want to work at.

Tom

this

[chriscraft]

58 minutes ago, rodneywt1180b said:

this

I tried out the +1.25 lenses, they worked but I noticed I had to be a certain distance to see clearly. Move 1 inch away or closer and things  got blurry quick. 

The next strength, +1.50 was better but the +1.75 I liked the most. 

This last Marquette University Dentestry seal I tooled this morning will be painted. The first color I used was on the background. It’s dry now and with these glasses I just picked up, I can see it’ll need to be touched up before moving on to the next color. 

[kgg]

Chriscraft go get your eyes and blood tested the over the counter lenses my be good for awhile but. Like Northmount going to have to wait for 60 to come around again. I always had to where glasses for long distance and take them off to read or do close work. Then in the my late 40's became a type 2 diabetic and closer work started to be not as clear. Could never get use to those transition lenses, got sea sick bobbin up and down like a seal trying to find the sweet spot.

So now I use a prescription distance glasses for normal daily activities, prescription reading glasses for detail / sewing / cutting that type of stuff and for computer / reading / writing / repair no glasses. Like an old guy once told me the only thing golden about getting older is the colour of your. Now I am that old guy.

kgg

[Ard Righ Art]

10 hours ago, Northmount said:

Use lighting that comes from both sides to minimize shadows caused by your hands and tools.  Hard to follow a line when it is masked by a shadow!

Tom

I find shining a reasonably bright light on the subject really helps with focus, and was going to suggest that to the OP, but you already covered it more adequately than I would have.  A lot of what my optometrist calls second order problems can be alleviated by fixing other ones instead.

I finally got my shop set up with bright light from both sides, prior to that I would use a single lamp with a goose neck that I could move from my left side when drawing/tracing/cutting to the right for beveling/tooling.  On the road, I just move a lamp from side to side as needed to avoid those pesky shadows.

[immiketoo]

Like you, I had amazing vision my whole life.  I could see things that others thought were impossible.  Then I turned 40 and just like that the warranty expired.  Went to the doc and he said because my far vision was still perfect, just wear the readers.  I have all the focal lengths from 1.00 to 3.75 for super close detail work.  I hate it, but there's no other way  around it, except getting a lens replacement.  Since its an elective surgery, its very expensive, so readers it is.  One tip.  Leave the stickers on the lens telling you what magnification on, or buy different styles for each magnification.  Otherwise you'll spend a lot of time trying on the wrong pair!

[Northmount]

16 minutes ago, immiketoo said:

there's no other way  around it, except getting a lens replacement

And you will still need reading glasses.  There are specialized lens implants that supposedly allow both close and distant vision.  The lenses have circular rings and you have to retrain your eye movements to seek the image you want to see.  From what I understand, you have 2 images projected on your retina and have to learn how to select the one you want.  The images may not be as clear as glasses designed for specific uses.  I know a fellow that was tired of wearing glasses all the time and had implants like this.  He seems happy with them, but does have trouble at times with the image not being really clear.  Seems to do okay with night driving too.  I also know a lady that just had implants due to high level of astigmatism that could no longer be corrected with glasses.  It's been a couple months and she is still having trouble adapting to them.  Apparently her astigmatism is due to shape of her eye rather than being due to her natural lens.

You need to ask lots of questions of your surgeon and get references from other users to see what type of implant will work for you.  I wasn't given that type of information and have the standard low cost implants.  And not too excited about having them replaced either, so will cope with wearing different glasses for different applications.

Tom

[chriscraft]

Thanks Tom for the explanation. Now I’ll be armed with questions when I visit the Dr.

Mike, hopefully I’ll receive news like you did as my distant vision is still good. 

I will add more lights to my work station.