Horor story from a rookie

Robert Koster

Member
Messages
5
Location
Grand Rapids MI
I had two accidents this holiday week end. 1. I was turning my first bowl out of cherry and my bowl gouge caught, and actually disengaged the large piece of wood from the face plate, which found the side of my head, I now can go to work on Tuseday with a swollen black eye. 2. Same bowl; as I was stepping away from the lathe my back was toward the lathe but I was to the side, I heard a loud bang, this bowl just exploded, a quarter of the bowl actually imbedded in the wall behind the lathe, the rest just went across the room. Needless to say I will purchase a helment with a face shield on Tuesday.
If I knew how to put pictures on this forum, I would show you the piece imbedded in the wall.

Thanks for all your advice on pricing.

Robert Koster
 
As my own recent posts described, I can, except for the personal injury and holes in the wall, relate to this story very well. After four attempts, and with the great help of this forum, bowl #5 was a success. The first four did exactly what you've described and I have just this day actually found bowl #4 which has been MIA for about 10 days since departing the chuck for regions unknown until today :).

Stick with it - it'll come to you !!

cheers eh?
 
Ouch!:eek: Glad you're ok, other than a black eye and damaged ego! First bowl I tried, I had just bought a face shield wince I needed it or a class. I decided it would be a good idea to get used to the thing! The bowl exploded and, had I not had the face shied, I would have had a nice shiner too! Learned real quick why they are important and I try to remind everyone that's getting into turning if I have a chance!
 
Bowl gouges are supposed to catch. I know, every time I try one, that's what happens. ;)
Seriously, glad you weren't hurt worse. You have learned by full face masks are standard for many turners.
 
Wow, glad to see it wasn't any worse, Robert. You're wise to be shopping for some face protection. (I'd give you the minor lashing with a wet noodle for not having some in the first place, but I suspect that cherry bowl got the point across plenty well.) ;) It also sounds like the screws you used to attach the blank to the faceplate were either too few or too short (or both). Even with a bad catch, the screws shouldn't let go of the blank. The bad catch itself could be either the result of trying to take too heavy of a cut, or the wrong presentation of the tool to the wood (both are things you learn from experience.) Also, out of curiosity, what speed were you turning at?

I've got a simple face shield like this one. It doesn't protect the top of the head, but it'll cut down on the number of black eyes. For more complete protection, there are the full helmet rigs like this, or like this. Much more costly, but better protection.

Please do post some pics, as a reminder to others that this lathe stuff can be dangerous. (I've seen in pointed out that the lathe is the one shop tool that's most capable of accidentally killing someone.) There's a tutorial here for resizing and posting pictures. Let us know if you need any help.

Be careful out there -
 
Robert glad to see you are ok. I started out with a face shield but found out very quickly that when sanding you can breath a lot of sanding dust. When my doctor told me I had dust in my lungs and that it can cause empysema (spelling) as quickly and as deadly as if I had smoked it didn't take me long to figure out that after that $1500 doctor/hospital tests that $235 wasn't to bad. I got my trend from here for $232. You can buy any replacement parts for it. The headband, filters, etc.

http://www.envirosafetyproducts.com/category/trend-airshield.html

I bought the extra filters $60 and the extra battery $30 to get more than 4 hrs. of turning time. Like my Doc said $250 is pretty cheap since you can't buy another pair of lungs.

Just my $1.298.
 
Robert, it sends chills up my spine every time a read a story like this. Probably b/c of my own personal experiences, but I'm glad to hear the injury wasn't worse. :eek: After my first loosed bowl fragment, I was very skiddish and I WAS wearing a faceshield. I now wear a Triton. I still approach the lathe w/the same respect as my Harley, but I'm happy that I'm protected.

http://www.amazon.com/Triton-PRA001-Powered-Respirator/dp/B0000DEZO8
 
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