Toller wrote:
I have just finished a bowl turning course; my first lathe work. The
instructor is very casual about safety; he says that is reasonable, since no
one ever get hurt on a lathe. I wonder how true that is.


There are occasional injuries. I would worry about the thing catching my
clothes and pulling me in.


I read through the website on woodworking injuries, and there aren't many
lathe injuries reported. The main problem seems to be the work breaking
apart at high speeds. Does that happen much?


I don't think so.


A number of people recommended full face shields. I have one, but it is
pretty thin flexible plastic; I don't expect it would help much against a
high speed chunk of wood. I looked up a few websites (amazon, hartsville,
woodcraft) and they just sell ones like mine, except mine has a metal frame.
Is there something better, or is it strong enough?


It's probably OK. Your mask doesn't have to deflect a bullet. It's going to
both deflect and spread an impact out over a larger area, reducing its effect.
It also keeps the crap from flying into your eyes all the time.


I am the only person wearing a dust mask, and it gets pretty dirty after a
few hours.


That would be the inside of your lungs otherwise. I wear eye and lung
protection when there's stuff flying around to get me. If it's noisy I wear
hearing protection as well. If I had known way back I was going to live so
long, I'd have taken better care of myself back in the days when I thought I was
bulletproof.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com