Thread: Providence warning

These sorts of stories are the reason I'm not buying turning tools until I also have all the protective gear and proper dust extraction set up. Safety first, thanks for the reminder!

Originally Posted by Phily

I've been turning on and off for several decades (far more seriously the last 5yrs) without any major incidents. I'm a fairly cautious turner though quite a few times have fallen into the "I'm only going to be quick" trap and have started turning without protective gear - only to find myself still turning an hour later!

A very enjoyable morning, music in the background, finished off a piece from yesterday which I was very happy with and was well into a second piece - a lovely old lump of redgum with plenty of character. Before getting into the finishing stage, I took a break, took my mask off and grabbed some fresh air. On returning to the lathe and in anticipation of sanding, I decided to put on my full face respirator. I turned up the speed for the finishing cuts, bent over and started to kiss the timber with my freshly sharpened chisel. BAM BAM 2 large pieces straight into my face. No catch, no warning just an explosion.

Had I still been wearing only my safety glasses there is no doubt I would be in hospital right now getting my face stitched up.

I checked the pieces afterward. Absolutely nothing in the timber to indicate that there were any faults. It was only providence that saved me from a very nasty accident.

From now on, its a full face mask for me when doing any turning.

Thanks for sharing Philly.

I always wear a full face shield-respirator. There is no guarantee that it will save me come the big one, however, it will reduce the number of pieces they have to collect.

Life itself is a risky business, but why take chances where you are able to minimise the risk.

It was the shock of it. It was a really solid looking piece of wood that gave absolutely no indication of a problem. I've had other pieces give way and fly off in the opposite direction, but never directly into my face. Maybe it won't ever happen again, but I like my skin on the bone, not hanging away from it - so no more risks!!

There are a couple of issues here for me.
Firstly, I am really wary of being in the line of fire. I always stand well back upon starting, unless absolutely imperative, I NEVER stand in the line of fire. I have quite a vivid imagination, plus a good memory. I imagine, What if this big Jarrah Burl explodes, where will it hit. And I also have a memory of a chunk of Jarrah hitting me between the eyes, whilst wearing a full face shield and respirator. It drew blood and I saw stars.

So, prior to relying upon PPE, consider where you are working and standing, and what trajectory the missiles will take.

Lastly, quite often, I can hear an issue well before it becomes one, the sound of the turning changes when a crack becomes evident. I will always stabilise a piece of wood or burl before going on again
Cheers
Willy

Originally Posted by Phily

From now on, its a full face mask for me when doing any turning.

Very good news that all that was harmed in this event were your undies.

A face shield is the first thing that you put on and the last thing that you check that you have on before starting the lathe.

Originally Posted by Willy Nelson

There are a couple of issues here for me.
Firstly, I am really wary of being in the line of fire. I always stand well back upon starting, unless absolutely imperative, I NEVER stand in the line of fire. I have quite a vivid imagination, plus a good memory. I imagine, What if this big Jarrah Burl explodes, where will it hit. And I also have a memory of a chunk of Jarrah hitting me between the eyes, whilst wearing a full face shield and respirator. It drew blood and I saw stars.

So, prior to relying upon PPE, consider where you are working and standing, and what trajectory the missiles will take.

Lastly, quite often, I can hear an issue well before it becomes one, the sound of the turning changes when a crack becomes evident. I will always stabilise a piece of wood or burl before going on again
Cheers
Willy

Very good advice.

One other thing that I will add, is that most turners forget about the static and dynamic forces involved with turning.

Quite often a piece will stay together while the lathe is still running but once stopped it will not handle the change in forces when the lathe is started again. This commonly occurs with thin walled bowls, bowl blanks with "character", long very thin spindle items etc. While the lathe is spinning everything is in a state of equilibrium, but once stopped the torque generated in the piece to get the whole piece back up to speed may be more that the material that is left is capable of withstanding. "Soft starting" - reducing the speed on start up then gradually increasing the speed will minimise the risk.

This is a quite common event (in hazard management terms), one with high risk and potentially catastrophic outcomes - a near completed bowl exploding upon start up. For those who have not heard of Lynne Yammaguchi's injury in near identical circumstances take the time to find and read her blog about her facial injuries and loss of sight in one eye.

Unfortunately these sorts of events have been known to kill wood turners or leave them with quite traumatic injuries.

While standing out of the line of fire is far better than not, it is not a guarantee that you won't get hit. If the piece coming of hits an angled tool post, turning tool or the lathe bed it can bounce off in a wider range of directions. In theory the safest place "out of the line of fire" is behind the head stock but you won't get much turning done there.

The other way you can get hit is when something accidentally falls or lands on a spinning chuck or object being turned.
One region from where the "something" can come from is shelving behind the lathe.

Earlier this year I was using my MW lathe with the jaws set well out (not spinning) when I reached up to grab some lubricant on a shelf behind the lathe and a near full can of WD40 fell onto the chuck jaws puncturing the can and then it fell onto the lathe bed and the can started to spin spewing out its contents all over me in a vertical orientation. Luckily I had a full face shield on but my clothe got saturated with the stuff.

Originally Posted by BobL

While standing out of the line of fire is far better than not, it is not a guarantee that you won't get hit. If the piece coming of hits an angled tool post, turning tool or the lathe bed it can bounce off in a wider range of directions. In theory the safest place "out of the line of fire" is behind the head stock but you won't get much turning done there.

The other way you can get hit is when something accidentally falls or lands on a spinning chuck or object being turned.
One region from where the "something" can come from is shelving behind the lathe.

Earlier this year I was using my MW lathe with the jaws set well out (not spinning) when I reached up to grab some lubricant on a shelf behind the lathe and a near full can of WD40 fell onto the chuck jaws puncturing the can and then it fell onto the lathe bed and the can started to spin spewing out its contents all over me in a vertical orientation. Luckily I had a full face shield on but my clothe got saturated with the stuff.

Sorry mate, but I reckon a video of that event would look hilarious
Willy

Originally Posted by BobL

Earlier this year I was using my MW lathe with the jaws set well out (not spinning) when I reached up to grab some lubricant on a shelf behind the lathe and a near full can of WD40 fell onto the chuck jaws puncturing the can and then it fell onto the lathe bed and the can started to spin spewing out its contents all over me in a vertical orientation. Luckily I had a full face shield on but my clothe got saturated with the stuff.

...

Originally Posted by Willy Nelson

Sorry mate, but I reckon a video of that event would look hilarious
Willy

Well, I can tell you there will be no reruns.

Good reminder.

Ive become slack recently.

Firstly, I am really wary of being in the line of fire. I always stand well back upon starting, unless absolutely imperative, I NEVER stand in the line of fire.

Very sound advice. I don't do much turning, but I was taught that you never stand in line with any rotating machine when starting up. I've seen a single tooth from a table saw go through a fibro wall, and also pictures of what happened to a full face shield when a grinding wheel disintegrated. I also had a teacher who was interrupted when changing the blades on her jointer, and forgot to tighten them before switching it on. Had she not been standing to the side she would probably have been seriously injured. As it was, one blade scared the whatever out of the birds sitting on the roof of her workshop.

I have found that complacency ' it wont happened to me' usually borne out of several years of experience, one of the key attitudes towards accidents

For many years I worked in mining and mining construction sites in many parts of the world. One of the alarming statistics was about complacency. If I was going to have a accident in this type of work it would happen most likely at the 10 year mark. This point in time was universal wherever I worked, the tenth year was the most dangerous and given the nature of the work and industry these accidents were never pretty.

Its the same with wood turning so much so we could say 'complacency kills' here as in mining etc. Its a difficult attitude to get on top of as it requires a change of habit and thinking. Plus constant working at it till it becomes automatic.

Glad it was nothing serious Phil and its a good reminder to all of us.

I was actually spindle turning. When the pice gave way it caused the piece to break into 3 pieces, 2 of which came at me - directly at each eye! You are 100% Hughie, I had become complacent, thinking that a pair of safety glasses would suffice most times. On this occasion, they might have saved my eyesight but without doubt my eyebrows wouldn't have faired so well!!

Originally Posted by Phily

I was actually spindle turning. When the pice gave way it caused the piece to break into 3 pieces, 2 of which came at me - directly at each eye! You are 100% Hughie, I had become complacent, thinking that a pair of safety glasses would suffice most times. On this occasion, they might have saved my eyesight but without doubt my eyebrows wouldn't have faired so well!!

Spindle turning can get you too. Was the grain in the blank a bit suspect - cross grain perhaps?

Safety at the lathe and in the work shop is an interlinked process, each little oversight may not seem all that worrying or risky, but they have a rather nasty habit of all coming together at the wrong time.

We all tend to get very familiar with processes and fall into the complacency trap of "I can get away with that" or "she'll be right." Then we get a reality check.