Ouch!

Vaughn McMillan

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Between last night and tonight, I've gotten about 4 or 5 little cuts on my hands and fingers while turning. Nothing serious -- I've had worse paper cuts -- and only one has bled enough to warrant a band-aid. A couple are the result of brushing against the spinning sharp edge of a turned piece, and the rest are from brushing against (or poking myself with) the business end of my 5/8" bowl gouge. (Did you know that stabbed into the heel of your hand, a bowl gouge makes part of a smiley face in your flesh?) :rolleyes:

None of the cuts are really noteworthy, and we all get skinned up a bit in the shop, but I'm here to tell you, you sure do notice the little cuts quickly when you dip your hands in the DNA bucket to retrieve last night's turning and to soak what you turned tonight. :eek: :doh:Bad words are said.
 
Uh......Vaughn.....bad words aren't allowed at this site.....:D


But I've been there too! I recently filed the top of my tool rest to take out some dings. I forgot to take the burr off the back of it that normally faces your project while turning. Later as I slid my finger along the tool rest while using my skew....Same scenerio!
 
Amazing how harsh chemicals will bring to the forefront of our thought process minor cuts and scrapes that went unnoticed for a while ;). Forge ahead, if I wasn't dinged or scraped up somewhere I obviously haven't been doing anything.

On the less painful side I de-virginated my bench top yesterday with a good ding to the apron and a small one to the front-vise top. At least the waiting is over. I'll deal out much worse before this guy gets replaced.
 
Vaughn, Sounds like a good night to read a book or mow the lawn. Any time I find myself repeatedly maiming myself I find something else to do. :wave: There have been a few days when after blowing up bowls and such on the lathe I went and picked on something else for a while. It seems to be a human condition related to concentration, that should demand a break from the action. Maybe you are over-lathed. Or maybe it's just old age or the wrong kind of fortification. I've seen a few knucklheads operate machinery after a few beers. Not a good mix...........Just a friendly poke at you lad.:D
 
When you're a woodturner you need stock in J&J...

Hello Vaughn,

I feel your pain... It seems like woodturners and Band-Aids go together like peas and carrots. I fight back by having stock in J&J, so every time I buy a box, I can smile and know that I'm getting rich... Well, I wish anyway!

As for the DNA, be extra careful with this stuff, it's a very bad boy... Denatured Alcohol is pure ethyl alcohol, combined with small amounts of methanol and other chemicals to make it highly poisonous. It can contain among other things: Ethanol, Acetone, Methanol and Methyl Isobutyl Ketone, Ethyl Acetate and Gasoline. :eek:

If that's not bad enough, using denatured alcohol exposes you to benzene, which is known to cause cancer and toluol, which is known to cause birth defects and other reproductive harm. :eek: It's a very bad boy and you don't want to get it on your bare skin. Take care and all the best to you and yours!
 
...As for the DNA, be extra careful with this stuff, it's a very bad boy...and you don't want to get it on your bare skin.
Good point, and one that I'd not really thought of. My exposure to it is brief, but it's probably worth putting on a pair of gloves to keep the hands dry.
 
As my old buddy Bill Clinton used to say, I feel your pain.

Another hazard that's coming into season for me is turning bare footed. When it starts hitting the upper 90's in the garage I can't hack it unless I'm wearing as little as possible. I've dropped a few tools on my toes but luckily they haven't landed with the business end yet.
 
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