If a piece of wood comes off the lathe it can do
you serious harm. Other shop tools can maim you, a lathe can kill you.

The above was a recent comment here on the group. While I certainly
don't disagree with the first sentence, I have problems with the second.
Everything in life is dangerous and potentially lethal: one can die from
drinking too much water; one can die from whittling a folk art Santa and
slicing through the femoral artery; one can die from just getting out of
bed in the morning (most heart attacks occur during the first few hours
of waking). There's risk in everything we do - the difference is how
safely the activity is pursued and then the statistical odds of a fatal
injury occurring while performing the activity.

It may be quibbling, but every tool in the shop can kill you and many of
those are much more statistically risky, injury-wise, to operate than a
lathe. I would suppose lathe injuries tend to be much less severe and
permanently disfiguring than injuries from table saws, jointers, band
saws, routers or a number of other shop tools. In the four years I've
been turning I've only seen one instance of moderately severe facial
injuries from a flying piece of wood (a few years back in the AAW
Journal). I've seen, read and heard of nicks to the chins, friction burn
injuries to the hands, bruised and blackened fingernails, a bruised
temple (from getting smacked by a tool handle after the operator tried
peering into a hollow form while the lathe was running and tool still
working inside) and plethora of cuts, nicks and scrapes to the fingers.
Every one of these injuries, including the facial bruising in the
Journal picture, would heal within a week or two. Other shop tools
remove fingers permanently. When was the last time the injury with a
table saw, jointer or band saw you were told about resulted in only
bruising?

On the whole, deaths from woodshop injuries, I would suppose, are
statistically pretty low on the totem pole. When was the last time you
heard about someone being killed using any woodworking tool much less
while operating a lathe? I object to the alarmist scare tactic in the
quoted post. I especially object to the notion that operating a lathe
carries greater risk of death than other shop tools.

(BTW, I started my daughter out, guiding her hands while turning tops,
last year when she was six.)

--
Owen Lowe

Northwest Woodturners,
Cascade Woodturners,
Pacific Northwest Woodturning Guild
___
Tips fer Turnin': Pour your end-grain sealer into a clean, wide-mouth
clothes detergent bottle. The lid makes a handy dipping container for
your brush and the leftovers will drain back into the bottle when you
recap the jug.

Owen Lowe wrote:

snipped

It may be quibbling, but every tool in the shop can kill you and many of
those are much more statistically risky, injury-wise, to operate than a
lathe. I would suppose lathe injuries tend to be much less severe and
permanently disfiguring than injuries from table saws, jointers, band
saws, routers or a number of other shop tools. In the four years I've
been turning I've only seen one instance of moderately severe facial
injuries from a flying piece of wood (a few years back in the AAW
Journal). I've seen, read and heard of nicks to the chins, friction burn
injuries to the hands, bruised and blackened fingernails, a bruised
temple (from getting smacked by a tool handle after the operator tried
peering into a hollow form while the lathe was running and tool still
working inside) and plethora of cuts, nicks and scrapes to the fingers.
Every one of these injuries, including the facial bruising in the
Journal picture, would heal within a week or two. Other shop tools
remove fingers permanently. When was the last time the injury with a
table saw, jointer or band saw you were told about resulted in only
bruising?

I agree it's rare but many years ago, when I was in grade school a
friend of mine was killed by a bowl blank that broke off its mounting,
split in half and impaled him in the forehead.

(Charles Singbush, P.S. 33, Buffalo, NY, approx. 1964)

--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA

(Remove -SPAM- to send email)

"no(SPAM)vasys" wrote in message
...
Owen Lowe wrote:

snipped

It may be quibbling, but every tool in the shop can kill you and many of
those are much more statistically risky, injury-wise, to operate than a
lathe. I would suppose lathe injuries tend to be much less severe and
permanently disfiguring than injuries from table saws, jointers, band
saws, routers or a number of other shop tools. In the four years I've
been turning I've only seen one instance of moderately severe facial
injuries from a flying piece of wood (a few years back in the AAW
Journal). I've seen, read and heard of nicks to the chins, friction burn
injuries to the hands, bruised and blackened fingernails, a bruised
temple (from getting smacked by a tool handle after the operator tried
peering into a hollow form while the lathe was running and tool still
working inside) and plethora of cuts, nicks and scrapes to the fingers.
Every one of these injuries, including the facial bruising in the Journal
picture, would heal within a week or two. Other shop tools remove fingers
permanently. When was the last time the injury with a table saw, jointer
or band saw you were told about resulted in only bruising?

I agree it's rare but many years ago, when I was in grade school a friend
of mine was killed by a bowl blank that broke off its mounting, split in
half and impaled him in the forehead.


I have knowledge of several people getting killed by operating
woodlathes over the years.

Most of them by head injuries from operating homemade lathes
with big blanks and too much speed
getting big catches from bad tools.

I also have the feeling that the modern woodlathe, with exellent
chucks, highspeed steel tools, and far better speedcontrol than
a genration ago, has drastically reduced the dangers.

Bjarte

"no(SPAM)vasys" wrote:

(Charles Singbush, P.S. 33, Buffalo, NY, approx. 1964)


What is it with NY and Numbering schools? Sounds more like re-education
camps.

Gene Kearns wrote:

On Sat, 15 Oct 2005 20:48:49 GMT, "Bjarte Runderheim"
wrote:

I also have the feeling that the modern woodlathe, with exellent
chucks, highspeed steel tools, and far better speedcontrol than
a genration ago, has drastically reduced the dangers.

My 40-something years working in various types of shops has convinced
me that technology has yet to conquer the three greatest contributors
(causes) of accidents.....

haste......

lack of forethought.......

and ignorance.....

Four: Not paying attention

Lobby Dosser wrote:


What is it with NY and Numbering schools? Sounds more like re-education
camps.


That was 40 years ago. Now the schools are named things like "The Fine
Arts Academy", "Futures Academy", "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Multicultural Institute". Unfortunately it seems the longer the school
names get the lower the students score.

--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA

(Remove -SPAM- to send email)

On Sat, 15 Oct 2005 22:38:29 +0000, Lobby Dosser wrote:

Gene Kearns wrote:

My 40-something years working in various types of shops has convinced
me that technology has yet to conquer the three greatest contributors
(causes) of accidents.....

haste......

lack of forethought.......

and ignorance.....

Four: Not paying attention

I think it might have been Samuel Clemens who noted that it is nearly
impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.

Keep teaching the young ones how to do lathe work ... safely. The most
important thing going on is that one generation is learning from and
loving the other. As a side benefit, the younger ones learn how to make
things ... some of which happen to be round ... and gain the confidence
that comes from the certainty of acquired skill. ANd we older ones get to
show young eyes the beauty that keeps drawing us out to our tools and wood
pile day after day and late into the night.

Bill

"Bjarte Runderheim" wrote in message
...

I also have the feeling that the modern woodlathe, with exellent
chucks, highspeed steel tools, and far better speedcontrol than
a genration ago, has drastically reduced the dangers.


I think you're imagining safety factors that do not exist. The steel in the
tools? Hardly. Old lathes could and did rotate slowly, and unless you're
talking a modest chunk of wood, a chuck is _not_ the initial mount you want.

I don't and won't stand in the throw zone of the lathe at start and spinup.
That's plain dumb. No need to stand in the throw zone for cutting, unless
you're talking long spindles, either. If those two rules are observed,
home-made lathes - for the all used to be - are certainly as safe as a
commercial piece.

It's the guys who talk about weighting their lathes to keep them from
walking about the shop that concern me most. There are many who are
inclined to brag about how off-balance they can turn as if it were a good
thing. Of course, they often include people who use and vigorously espouse
a spur center or a flimsy single screw at the headstock rather than the
sturdy faceplate or pin chuck, which doubles their danger.

If they have a cheap lathe with a tin-can stand, I understand. These stands
are very flimsy. If they have to have a 1000 lb lathe to 2000 lbs, then I
agree with you! Once the lathe is that heavy, probably some rubber
dampening materials would be good for the feet.

It's the guys who talk about weighting their lathes to keep them from
walking about the shop that concern me most.

"Derek Hartzell" wrote in message
...
If they have a cheap lathe with a tin-can stand, I understand. These
stands
are very flimsy. If they have to have a 1000 lb lathe to 2000 lbs, then I
agree with you! Once the lathe is that heavy, probably some rubber
dampening materials would be good for the feet.

It's the guys who talk about weighting their lathes to keep them from
walking about the shop that concern me most.



It wobbles, not walks with a tin stand. Fortunately any of them can be made
rigid by addition of plywood gussets attached with sheet-metal screws.
Should be, really. Your hands and arms are trying to hold their position
precisely to maintain a tool angle, and when that tool moves, everything is
changed.

Which really begs the question, because the rotational energy of the
out-of-balance piece will exploit the weakest point in your combination.
You've just assured it won't be the inertia of the stand by weighting.