I wasn't doing the welding, but holding parts. My neck and face are red. And last night I woke three times with my eyes tearing and pain similar to getting some seriously strong soap in your eye. I thought I did a good job of looking away and keeping my eyes shut. Can your eyes be bothered by welding light even with your eyelids down?
Yes. Wear a mask, and long clothes next time.
Also get a welding respirator, metal fume fever is not fun, it was 2 of the worst days I've had in some time and a week of complete lethargy
You will burn faster around a welder than you will at the beach.
Weld naked so you even out the tan 
There's a lot that one is exposed to welding unprotected that can really make for an unpleasant future.
Welding stainless steel releases hexavalent chromium. Not nice stuff.
Welding galvanized steel releases vaporized zinc. Very unpleasant.
Eyelids are sufficient protection from natural light. When welding, always wear a helmet, gloves and long sleeves. I'll cheat and tack something together or do tiny TIG welds with just a helmet. But if I'm working for more than a couple minutes I gear up.
Friend was working at Lincoln welding and they went some place to do a demo. The room had fleshly painted white walls and ceiling. Everyone at the demo that was not completely suited up got the welders tan that day.
Even clear ANSI Z87.1 safety glasses will protect your eyes from 99.9% the UV radiation associated with welding flash. Tinted should protect 100%. I even wear mine under my welding helmet.
Yeah, not a tan. It's like a sun burn that doesn't go away overnight, stings for days.
BTW, I'm a fair skinned, blue eyes shade baby; so I know sun burns.
I mostly do small welding projects, but when I was welding together an aluminum cold air box got some flash burns. I'll never do more than a few tacks wearing a tee shirt again. I also have gotten into the habit of wearing tight-fitting safety glasses even with the helmet. Sometimes hot beads will end up in unexpected places like down the back of your shirt. I've had one rattle around inside the helmet before.
I was welding a bumper for my Samurai and the section was between my legs. It was mounted on the truck and I had to get close. I'm really smart so I made sure I had shorts on.
My eyes were fine thanks to the welding helmet but my God did I have a sunburn from my inner thighs to my ankles. It hurt terribly and I looked like an idiot for a week.
JoeTR6 wrote: I mostly do small welding projects, but when I was welding together an aluminum cold air box got some flash burns. I'll never do more than a few tacks wearing a tee shirt again. I also have gotten into the habit of wearing tight-fitting safety glasses even with the helmet. Sometimes hot beads will end up in unexpected places like down the back of your shirt. I've had one rattle around inside the helmet before.
Or in your ear. Thats the worst
So sunburn on eyelids bad. Got it. Hopefully I get some sleep tonight. Been putting aloe and vitamin e on my skin.
Welding burns are no joke. I always suit up and just don't welt Galvanized anymore if I can help it.
When we weld hoses people tell us they want galvanized flanges and we tell them we can't weld galvanized parts as the fumes are noxious and deadly.
I've had people get pissed at me.
Muriatic acid will strip galvanized, zinc, cadmium as well as rust from steel. Excellent weld prep as far as I'm concerned but welding sites ain't gonna tell ya that because some goob gonna berkeley it up and get a snort full of the fumes burning off standing downwind and get knocked on his ass... it is pretty bad but better to burn it off now than weld it and breathe it. Always be upwind.
Happened to dip some carbon steel plate that I thought was pretty berkeleying clean for TIG. Acid digs deep in the pores of the steel. Damn, that weld actually smelled sweet!!!
Sunscreen and long clothes each time I weld. I never weld without a helmet. I don't use a photo-cell helmet. I use the old fashioned flip method. Can't be too careful with flash burns.
Also, thongs, jandals, flipflops, or whatever else you wanna call them are a poor choice of welding footwear... Not only do you get the tops of your feet burnt, but every errant bit of weld spatter is somehow able to find its way under the soles of your rather exposed feet.
Yes, i was stupid.
Remind me of my first job after high school(1966) in a sheet metal shop. I was helping a welder work on some SS tubes. The helmet did not fit right so I just turned my head when he was welding. That night it felt like a rock was in my left eye. I went to the emergency room and told the doctor what I did. He called me a dumb ass, put a patch on my eye, and told me to see an eye doctor. The next day I went to the eye doctor, he ripped off the patch, called me a dumb ass, and gave me some cream for the burn on my eye. Went to work the following day and the foreman called me a dumb ass and made me wear a helmet all day even though I wasn't near any welders. Lesson learned.
My approach to most things in life is ATGATT - All The Gear All The Time
It has served me well.
DaveEstey wrote: My approach to most things in life is ATGATT - All The Gear All The Time It has served me well.
Every day is Wear Your Helmet To Work Day! :)
I bought a set of welder sleeves years ago after getting UV burns on the insides of my arms while welding.
I figure I should put this up here as an example of what not to do, and why:
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After blathering on to my son about "you need to make sure you have everything covered while using a MIG", I did this to myself. My long sleeve shirt was draped over the side of the truck while I did this 
. I had taken it off while taking a break because it was ridiculously hot, and forgot to put it back on.
The burn is on my left arm that I use to steady and aim the gun, in the exposed area between my T-shirt and long gauntlet welding glove. Took a couple minutes of welding before I realized my extreme stupidity and lack of SA.
This picture is about ten days after the incident, still burns/itches and serves as a conversation starter at work.
Moral of the story: stupid hurts!
Got a bit myself yesterday. And sparks coming inside the helmet suck. Need to start wearing safety glasses under my welding mask.
Long socks. Did a little welding one day when I wasn't expecting too, and I had shorty socks on. Still long pants, long sleeves, etc., but damned if I didn't have a 1" strip about 2" above my ankle where my pants had ridden up whilst in the welding position.
Datsun310Guy wrote: When we weld hoses people tell us they want galvanized flanges and we tell them we can't weld galvanized parts as the fumes are noxious and deadly. I've had people get pissed at me.
The welding heat un-galvanizes them anyway, and the zinc makes the weld REALLY crappy and porous.
I just weld in a T-shirt, but that burnt hair and bacon smell you get from the weld spatter making lots of small burns on your arms is almost comforting.
I have never ever had a welding tan. Odd.
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