Can I Use My Welding Helmet to View the Solar Eclipse?
For those of you who may have been curious, such as myself, if you can use your welding helmet to view the upcoming eclipse, here is our answer from NASA.
Short answer is yes – if your lens is at least a shade 12. NASA claims 12 may be too bright for others and 14 too dark, and most don’t offer a 13. But this article is from 2017. My Harbor Freight Titanium 9.3 sq. In. claims it’s a shade 13.
Many people find the Sun too bright even in a Shade 12 filter, and some find the Sun too dim in a Shade 14 filter — but Shade 13 filters are uncommon and can be hard to find.
NASA
So am I going to attempt to look through my Harbor Freight welding helmet? Fuck no. I aint gonna trust my already aging, worsening vision to some Harbor Freight tool. In the last words of Michael Dewayne Smith, who was convicted of killing 2 people in 2002, “Nah, I’m good.”