Thread: hidden surprise

The grain shape where it broke is a bit of a giveaway. I would have been very wary of it.

yes! all the similar grain ones have been put aside!

Yes. Just a little bit of grain run out. :

Hi Chuck1,
Its all been said, timber selection is always an important consideration and not just for look of the item but for your safety as well. We all have found over the years sometimes you get lucky and don't get hurt learning something.
Regards Rod.

it also gets hard when the boss buys a pack of timber and sights two piles and I have to explain this pile I will turn and this pile can be fire wood or plain square balusters, then pipes in they all need to be turned! then to inform him we need another pack please! so far New boss has been good my old boss would flip out in a dollar and cents kind of way!

Chuck, maybe the new boss looks at it like, a new pack of timber is cheaper and easier than one of his boys having an accident and the inherent costs and paperwork associated with Worker's Comp.

Originally Posted by chuck1

it also gets hard when the boss buys a pack of timber and sights two piles and I have to explain this pile I will turn and this pile can be fire wood or plain square balusters, then pipes in they all need to be turned! then to inform him we need another pack please! so far New boss has been good my old boss would flip out in a dollar and cents kind of way!

Most timber suppliers will take it back unless it was specially machined.

Originally Posted by chuck1

it also gets hard when the boss buys a pack of timber and sights two piles and I have to explain this pile I will turn and this pile can be fire wood or plain square balusters, then pipes in they all need to be turned! then to inform him we need another pack please! so far New boss has been good my old boss would flip out in a dollar and cents kind of way!

I have a friend, Kenn, who used to work in a big display company in Los Angeles. One day his boss (owner of company) told him to do something that Kenn knew was unsafe. Kenn refused, explaining that it would not be safe.

Boss angrily grabbed the piece and crammed it into the machine, BANG! Ambulance ride to the ER, got sewn up, and a week off from work.

Kenn was made safety awareness person of the company.

Love Kenn's story; as it should be; given a promotion(?) rather than the sack.


To what diameter was the timber being turned? 1800 rpm could be a bit high. I don't turn anything at those speeds unless it's pen sized.

Originally Posted by Paul39

I have a friend, Kenn, who used to work in a big display company in Los Angeles. One day his boss (owner of company) told him to do something that Kenn knew was unsafe. Kenn refused, explaining that it would not be safe.

Boss angrily grabbed the piece and crammed it into the machine, BANG! Ambulance ride to the ER, got sewn up, and a week off from work.

Kenn was made safety awareness person of the company.

He must have been very diplomatic when he said "I told you so".

To what diameter was the timber being turned? 1800 rpm could be a bit high. I don't turn anything at those speeds unless it's pen sized.[/QUOTE]



42 by 42 and 980 long! just the way I was taught! I don't have many that fly out.
I've had two this year this one was timber and the other one my stupidity , piece if pine 42 by 42 and 1400 long forgot to slow Lathe down! so I've lost two out of 150
Look at changing toolrests for better protection!

Does that mean it's chuck: 1 and chuck1: 1? (tongue in cheek)



A good success rate then. No Spanish inquiry intended.

If I have irregular grain I tend to start low on the RPMs and speed up as I become more confident in the timber's ability to hold together and as the diameter reduces. Mind you, that's when things tend to go to hell in a handbasket...

I was demonstrating spindle turning at my first school (too many years ago) and had a piece of about 400x60x60 Meranti roughed down for an occasional table and began reducing the diameter when the tailstock on the shortbed lathe I was using come loose due to lathe vibration (demountable workshop with the slightest bit of flex in the floor!) and its locking mechanism hanging just a liiiittle too far off the end of the bed. Consequently, the live centre lifted just enough for the tail end of the Meranti to come out, the piece came up in slow motion, hit me as lightly as a feather on my right shoulder and proceeded to the floor, still as in slo mo, to land next to my right foot, where it suddenly took on a life of its own, spinning like a top in all three dimensions. The gyroscopic effect on the timber spinning so fast in the lathe and through the air only announced itself when landing on the hard floor at an angle, forcing it out of its axial spin.

A reeeally good lesson for a first year out teacher and the ten or so students who were just outside of arm's reach in an arc around me watching the demo: DON'T USE THE SHORTBED LATHE FOR THIS PROJECT and SLOW YOUR LATHES DOWN!

Originally Posted by CAG

Love Kenn's story; as it should be; given a promotion(?) rather than the sack..

No promotion, just more duties.

Kenn did most of the work on this:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KrOvzNWWQ4...a+%2810%29.jpg

Nice work! I don't know how Atlas isn't drowning under there though...