Safety eyewear: prescription and Bolle

Above: Bolle IRI-Safety bi-focal, purchased for A$38 in August 2024

Review and photos: Raf Nathan

So, the belt sander was inverted on the workbench to sand some small pieces of wood... I had on a fancy dust mask, ear protection and reading glasses. Surely enough protection for a simple sanding process.

Switched on the sander and immediately a tiny piece of abrasive from the belt flew up, went under the reading glasses frame and hit me in the white of the eye. It was okay and just sore for a half a day. I normally wear reading glasses under safety goggles but two pair of glasses at once is of course cumbersome. Hence the incident at the sander.

Hoya safety prescription glasses – the cost for these was $280.

The next day I visited a a workwear shop and bought some Bolle safety glasses with built-in bifocals. These glasses are standard vision except for a small half-moon shape in the lower half which is prescription. They wrap around well and fit closely to the cheeks. The super clear polycarbonate lens is scratch- and fog-resistant and available with a prescription +1, +2, +2.5, and +3. These work well but you have limited close-up ability given the small focus area.

The next week I visited my optometrist for safety glasses with a full prescription lens. The frames I chose fit snugly onto my cheeks for an acceptable seal. This gives me a custom prescription reader in a safety goggle type frame and is the best eye protection I can get. With my health fund rebate I was out of pocket $80.

This article is not about recommending a specific brand of protective gear, but rather about the importance of wearing eye protection in the workshop. For more information on this topic see an excellent article by David Luckensmeyer which appeared in Wood Review issue 121.

First published in AWR#124, September 2024

Raf Nathan @treeman7777 is a Brisbane based woodworker.