Problem with Eyes

[Travis02gt]

Hello, Im new to the board but have been hitting the bag for about 6 months now. I started off with a Century Speed bag /heavy bag stand and now I just recently installed the wall mount non adjustable one from Ringside. Needless to say alot more sturdy platform. Anyways I went from a chain swivel from Everlast to a plastic ball and hook swivel so I could start doing more advance techniques such as side hitting. Anyways after about a week of hitting with the new swivel I started having bad problems with my eyes. I didnt know what it was or what was causing it. So I would just wash my eyes out and use eye drops and that didnt help. The problem got worse as the next weeks went by so I decided it was time to visit the eye doctor. The doctor told me it was just irritated by something but couldnt find the cause. So he prescribed me some drops and I started using those for a couple of days. The problem went away after a couple of days and then I started to hit the bag again. The problem came back worse and had to wear an eyepatch over one of my eyes for a week because I couldnt see during daylight hours. After inspecting my bag and swivel I noticed alot of dust build up on the bottom of the platform, so i took my finger and rubbed it to find Silver dust like powdered metal. The metal eye was wearing down and getting into my eyes. Take a look at the pics and you can see the eyelets on the hook is about to wear through. Anyways just wanted to share my experience with the ball and hook. I think im going to go back to the chain-link or pro swivel.

[Speedbag]

I am really sorry to hear that. I was told that everlast gave up their metal two piece ballhook swivel due to complaints about metal flaking and chips getting into people's eyes. It could be that there really is a quality control problem with their metal.

Perhaps it's made in china, like all the defective toys.

anyway, I'm really sorry to hear that. You might try the Boxing Gear swivel, which is the third product down here.

[Travis02gt]

Alan, is that the same one thats in one of your newest equipment review vids on youtube. Have you noticed any wearing away at the metal where the link is? Thanks

[Speedbag]

Alan, is that the same one thats in one of your newest equipment review vids on youtube. Have you noticed any wearing away at the metal where the link is? Thanks

No but I haven't used it long enough. Actually, that video was honestly the first time I had use it. The songs I hit to were the first songs. I did not hit it for a few days and then make the video. Myself and wife had laid out by the pool all day, and afterwards I went to buy the bolts needed to hang it. I wanted to shoot the video that night because I wouldn't get to it for another week or so. That's why I looked like I was having a bad hair day. I was. I didn't "fix up" for the video, because it was already about 10pm, and that was my 3rd or 4th take, so I only had a few punches on it before you see hitting. About 10 minutes afterward, the metal eyebolt shank blew out and right now it is in pieces. In all honesty, the everlast eyebolt and hook look a bit thicker in construction.

But I never had a metal flaking problem on any metal two piece ball hook swivel.

[Roscoe]

Travis, I'd like to thank you for your post and hope many more people read it in an effort to keep this from happening to others.

Spread the word

Roscoe

[Chris M]

I don't know if this will work for sure, but one way of lessening the metal dust would be to put some white lithium grease on that eyelet. Not only would it help lubricate it, but with the grease being there it would help trap the dust particles.

I used to have bad problems with metal dust in my eyes when I worked in bodyshops years ago. I went to my eye doctor for a regular checkup and I had my contacts in. When he looked at my eyes through his microscope thing, he asked me if I worked in a machine shop or something because my contacts were full of rust! He said he commonly saw the same things in guy's eyes that worked in machine shops. I just tried to be more careful about wearing eye protection when I was using a grinder or when I was sanding.

You know, wearing safety goggles would probably help too, but look out when you do that downward elbow strike, the glasses will go flying!