While I understand the appeal of turning BIG and the appeal
of turning hollow forms and the appeal of what Jimmy Clewes
calls "Hero Cuts" - the ones that put most turner's teeth on
edge and make the hair on the back of their necks rise - I
can't understand why avoidable risks are taken. Hand held,
and hand CONTROLLED tools have limits - as you discovered.

With the various "captured" rigs out there, with an attachment
for just about anything you can think of, and as beefy as you
want to go and let the "capture" of the rig take the brunt of
a mishap - rather than your hand, forearm, arm, shoulder - or
in one case I've heard of - a few ribs - why "fly without a net"?
And most of these rigs have a laser pointer option so you can
tell where the cutting edge is inside the hollow form - that you
probably can't see - so you can turn thinner walls without
wondering "Is this pass going to cut THROUGH the wall?".

Call it "a healthy respect for" or a "justified fear of" but
there's a fine line between "fearless" and "dead". The
trick of differentiating between apprehension and warranted
fear is the tricky part. I'm betting you've already got a
pretty good idea of what went wrong, and maybe have come
up with ways to avoid what went wrong this time. Walking
away after an incident like this and doing something else
will allow the adrenaline - and disappointment - to diminish
and allow the rational, problem solving part of the brain
to do its job. Some lower risk turning may keep the muscle
memory tuned up and let the brain generate some chemical
amnesiacs that will overcome some of the mental impediments
an "unpleasant experience" might cause that can get in
your way.

But - if every cell in your body is yelling DON'T! it's probably
best to listen - and figure out another way.

If the pieces I found by "googling" your name (actually
I used www.alltheweb.com) are representative of the
pieces you turn, you clearly have the skills to turn BIG
- even in less than perfect wood. So I'm guessing that
you were either just unlucky - or dropped you concentration
for a fraction of a second. I'm glad it was the tool that
broke and not any parts of you. To avoid damage to
your self maybe a "captured system" might be worth
looking into.

charlie b