Eye Protection? With an Axe?

T

The Grendels

Joined
Jul 23, 2021
Messages
1,248
First, let me say that I've been using an axe before I learned how to ride a bicycle and come from a family with a tradition in logging. The only time I've ever worn eye protection processing wood was either running a chainsaw, using a power tool, or using a sledge and (iron) wedge (the metal can deform and flake off, flying at you in unpredictable vectors when you're hammering on them). I have never in my life gotten a flake of wood in my eye from using an axe. If you're swinging it properly, the chips fly off to either side of you.

Then I find myself on YouTube and decide to see what the other kids are doing with axes. If you don't wear eye protection in these videos people start freaking out that you don't know what you're doing. The people who need the eye and other protection the most would be the person who likes to stand near where you're using an axe, when the chips fly out to the side.
 
Great considerations.
I agree with you.
Descendant of an Italian family, carpenters and wood extractors, I grew up with an ax and hatchet in my hands, I never used eye protection (only with a chainsaw and electrical equipment as well) and I never injured myself or had any accidents with my eyes.
 
Wearing eye protection is never a bad idea.
I wear glasses and I have had errant chips bounce off of things unexpectedly and strike my glasses or forehead- probably wouldn't have done damage, but I don't like "probably".
It's rare but it happens- like the time my Dad had a hot .45 ACP casing bounce off the rafters at the range and get lodged between his corrective glasses and eyebrow.

Particularly when it comes to your eyes- you can't heal a missing eyeball.

the absence protective equipment is not the sign of someone who knows what their doing; it's the sign of someone who's taking a risk, wittingly or otherwise.

Wear eye protection or don't- not my eyes, not my problem- but the move towards a culture of the expectation of PPE is a good one.
steel toe boots, hard hats, eye protection, ear protection... all good stuff. never bad.
 
Sometimes PPE is not a good idea to keep you safe. Lets talk about gloves and axes. While wearing gloves is OK, and even a good idea for some axe work, it is a bad idea for felling and bucking with a axe. What you want first and foremost when felling and bucking is purchase (look it up in dictionary). I had a very hard fight 25 years ago with The U S Forest Service when I wrote "An Ax To Grind" and made the video about this issue.
 
I have had a few near misses when splitting where I hit a bit of resin hardened knot that threw shards at my face so I now tend to wear eye protection at least when splitting. Most of what I chop is softer stuff; red alder, cedar, doug fir, and they don't tend to produce hard little shards that I would need to worry about. That said, I have also been smacked on the eyeball by a salmonberry or vine maple branch that I didn't see so if I'm out in the brush chopping I tend to wear the eyepro anyways. On one occasion (not chopping related) I was moving through the woods and tiny little branch reached out and scratched my cornea. After a day of misery where I couldn't sleep as every movement of my eye caused pain I got to go and have a doctor put me in a head clamp and smooth out my cornea with a scalpel while I watched. Took two months till my vision cleared entirely. All of which is a long-winded way of saying I now tend to err on the side of caution.
 
Last edited:
I play in a bar band with 3 guys in their late 50’s who refuse to wear ear protection. They’ve been playing in bars all their life and don’t like how the ear plugs make things quieter. They are also coincidentally very hard of hearing. Even now people still resent seat belt laws and ride their bikes without helmets, so it’s not hard to imagine people balking at some kind of eye protection when using an axe.

“But if you do it right…”, but nothin’! PPE isn’t for when things go right.

your body, your choices. I’m not here to change people’s mind about their choices in PPE. I don’t always wear proper PPE in situations that I probably should. I will say that advocating against the advocation for eye protection is a hard position to defend.
 
Alocksly said:
On one occasion (not chopping related) I was moving through the woods and tiny little branch reached out and scratched my cornea. After a day of misery where I couldn't sleep as every movement of my eye caused pain I got to go and have a doctor put me in a head clamp and smooth out my cornea with a scalpel while I watched. Took two months till my vision cleared entirely.
Click to expand...
…I’m glad my vision requires glasses.
 
Old Axeman said:
Sometimes PPE is not a good idea to keep you safe. Lets talk about gloves and axes. While wearing gloves is OK, and even a good idea for some axe work, it is a bad idea for felling and bucking with a axe. What you want first and foremost when felling and bucking is purchase (look it up in dictionary). I had a very hard fight 25 years ago with The U S Forest Service when I wrote "An Ax To Grind" and made the video about this issue.
Click to expand...
I'll wear gloves clearing brush, but not when I'm using a wooden handled axe to split wood or do delimbing. I like to have a feel for how the axe is connecting with the wood and you lose a lot of that when you put on gloves and gloves can get slick on the handle.

I was taught to do just a little flip motion just before the moment of contact to go from a bit of an angle to straight in, which helps split a round, but it's harder to have a good feel for the handle with gloves on to do that (even a nice pair). If you want to take a bit of the shock from the handle away and still be able to feel the wood properly, you can wear a pair of fingerless cycling gloves.
 
If you’re feeling shock from a hickory haft, you’re either taking bad swings or the haft needs to be thinned. Gloves aren’t the answer for that.
 
Super cold wood can explode unpredictably, I learned that as a kid in Alaska. I never took a splinter to the eye from chopping wood, but you don't get just nice predictable chips. If you want to read a story by a man who lost an eye to a splinter chopping wood, read Shadows on the Koyukuk by Sidney Huntington. Or just read it anyways, it's the autobiography of a man who lived an amazing subsistence life. I wear glasses, but when my kids use tools I make them wear safety gear because accidents happen. Until we have some way of replacing eyes, you only get 2, and the whole, "In my day, we didn't need any of that fancy-nancy protective gear, Real Men don't need it, youth today is weak (hrum hrum, stroke muttonchops)," is a tedious and trite commentary. It didn't happen to you, it didn't happen to anyone you know, therefore it's not a problem at all seems to be the issue here. I am an old guy now, and one of the reasons I still have all my parts and they all work reasonably well is that I can learn from the mistakes of others.
 
I would never fault someone for wearing eye protection. I have been a four-eyes for most of my life, so I've had small bits hit my glasses accidentally now and again. I believe it is silly to use power tools without eye protection. What do you think is going to happen when you are literally flinging stuff into the air? A ax is a powerful tool, and it does send chips flying, so...

That said, some people probably feel there are too many regulations in our lives, and they are tired of being told what to do. I totally understand that and believe you should do what you want on your own time. Also, ER staff appreciate the business.
 
BitingSarcasm said:
"In my day, we didn't need any of that fancy-nancy protective gear, Real Men don't need it, youth today is weak (hrum hrum, stroke muttonchops),"
Click to expand...
🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
and yet that's how it always goes.
Or it's the anecdotal "In 19-dickity-2 my grandpappi was thrown clear from his car and lived. Seat belts are stupid."

As a fellow parent who one day hopes to teach my son to use an axe, I'd never let him use one without PPE.
God forbid something happened and I didn't take the precautions I should have.
I'd never forgive myself.
 
Seems like there has been a generational shift with regards to safety - I grew up riding janky, self-built bikes without a helmet, never used eye protection with using a chainsaw or splitting wood, etc. Just how I grew up, still have some faint scars to show for it. That sort of thing is treated quite differently now.

In general, I'm all for it. Some parents are a bit ridiculous about it, but if it weren't personal safety, they'd be on about something else. Hurting yourself sucks, and as far as I'm concerned people who like go on about how safety gear isn't manly or whatever should feel welcome to leave their fingers and eyes wherever they like.
 
EngrSorenson said:
I play in a bar band with 3 guys in their late 50’s who refuse to wear ear protection. They’ve been playing in bars all their life and don’t like how the ear plugs make things quieter. They are also coincidentally very hard of hearing. Even now people still resent seat belt laws and ride their bikes without helmets, so it’s not hard to imagine people balking at some kind of eye protection when using an axe.

“But if you do it right…”, but nothin’! PPE isn’t for when things go right.

your body, your choices. I’m not here to change people’s mind about their choices in PPE. I don’t always wear proper PPE in situations that I probably should. I will say that advocating against the advocation for eye protection is a hard position to defend.
Click to expand...
If I was ever chopping wood at a rock concert, I would certainly wear ear protection. I didn't like the garbage issue ear plugs I was given, so I went to audiologist to get a proper wax mold of my ears to get a better fit that won't fall out. It costs more for the first pair (silicone), but replacements are cheaper afterwards (still have the originals). They had an option to drill a hole through it, so you can hear quieter sounds but still protect you from louder sounds.

I was mostly curious about people's thoughts on the matter and wondering if it was just a YouTube thing. A lot of people I know who use axes are already wearing glasses, so unless they're wearing smaller more fashionable lenses something can easily get under, they're mostly covered anyways.
 
The PPE movement has been off the hook for years.
I once worked for an outfit that made us wear safety glasses to hang dry wall. I fought them things constantly with dust, I finally knocked the lenses out of them. Those in charge said nothing and the blue suits never got close enough to know.
 
snuffle said:
Seems like there has been a generational shift with regards to safety - I grew up riding janky, self-built bikes without a helmet, never used eye protection with using a chainsaw or splitting wood, etc. Just how I grew up, still have some faint scars to show for it. That sort of thing is treated quite differently now.

In general, I'm all for it. Some parents are a bit ridiculous about it, but if it weren't personal safety, they'd be on about something else. Hurting yourself sucks, and as far as I'm concerned people who like go on about how safety gear isn't manly or whatever should feel welcome to leave their fingers and eyes wherever they like.
Click to expand...

It's hard to strike the balance between helicopter parent and responsible parent.
Some kids will always learn things the hard way, other kids will accept some guidance.
If I can get my kid to 18 with all his extremities, senses and brains, I'll feel like I've done my job.

3fifty7 said:
Safety Squint engaged.
Click to expand...

I'm working late today and I was literally crying laughing at this in a very quiet office. 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
 
EngrSorenson said:
steel toe boots, hard hats, eye protection, ear protection... all good stuff. never bad
Click to expand...
The only thing I disagree with here is the safety toed boots. I've gotten in more trouble with them than without them, they have a tendency to get wedged while climbing, and in my dairy farming days I never had a 1200 pound Holstein step on the toe part, always behind it, then you're stuck there with a cow standing on top of your foot and can't just pull your foot out.

I started tree care at a good time, ppe was encouraged, but there were enough old timers around still who could show you the more efficient way of going about a task. Things at the company I used to work for before striking out on my own have gotten out of control apparently, just about all of the fellas I worked with have jumped ship and moved on.

All of that to say that while I think ppe isn't necessarily a bad thing, it can be when taken too far.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top