One advantage of musing 'ex ignoramous' as opposed to pontificating 'ex
cathedra' is that I can be caught off base without being tagged out.
That being so, I'll muse about dime bombs and powdered metal bowl gouges
from a position of ignorance.
There is much ado recently about Dense Inert Metal Explosives (DIMES).
One consideration relates to studies that show that tungsten and nickel
alloys are neoplastic transforming agents for human bone cells and are
rapidly carcinogenic in rats. One of many references:

http;//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dense_
Inert_Metal_Explosive

AFAIK. carbides of tungsten and nickel are not a cause for worry re
toxic or carcinogenic effects in humans (that includes most
woodturners), but I wonder what other alloys of these dense inert metals
lurk in the dust that swirls around our grinder as we sharpen our
'powdered and rouged, new and improved' expensive bowl gouges. Dollars
always, now Dimes & Nickels.... must everything eventually come down to
money?

Enough of this morbid musing. Tis the season for joy. I hope some
industrial safety experts and the rest of you will respond and allay my
silly fears.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

Arch wrote:
One advantage of musing 'ex ignoramous' as opposed to pontificating 'ex
cathedra' is that I can be caught off base without being tagged out.
That being so, I'll muse about dime bombs and powdered metal bowl gouges
from a position of ignorance

SNIP

Enough of this morbid musing. Tis the season for joy. I hope some
industrial safety experts and the rest of you will respond and allay my
silly fears.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter




I don't think I would worry about the metal, Arch. When I am at the
lathe and need a touch up on a tool, I always have on my face shield
(hit in the forehead by a Christmas ornament leaping to freedom off the
lathe made me abandon goggles) and my mask. The mask is N95 compliant,
so no metal dust particulates can go through it.

With the face shield (eyes and surrounding areas) and the dust mask
(resipiratory tract) I feel pretty safe while sharpening.

Robert

wrote:
:


: I don't think I would worry about the metal, Arch. When I am at the
: lathe and need a touch up on a tool, I always have on my face shield
: (hit in the forehead by a Christmas ornament leaping to freedom off the
: lathe made me abandon goggles) and my mask. The mask is N95 compliant,
: so no metal dust particulates can go through it.


But your grinder is in your shop, and unless you wear the mask
all the time inside the shop, and after leaving it wearing the
same clothes, aren't you going to be exposed to this stuff?


-- Andy Barss

On Sun, 10 Dec 2006 05:17:31 +0000 (UTC), Andrew Barss
wrote:

wrote:
:


: I don't think I would worry about the metal, Arch. When I am at the
: lathe and need a touch up on a tool, I always have on my face shield
: (hit in the forehead by a Christmas ornament leaping to freedom off the
: lathe made me abandon goggles) and my mask. The mask is N95 compliant,
: so no metal dust particulates can go through it.


But your grinder is in your shop, and unless you wear the mask
all the time inside the shop, and after leaving it wearing the
same clothes, aren't you going to be exposed to this stuff?

You know there's no way to live forever, right?

Keep up this line of speculation, and eventually everyone will be
walking around in full Hazmat suits at all times.

On a related safety note, however-

I discovered how a blank *can* crack a guy in the head first-hand this
evening. Turns out, a hunk of willow spinning at about 1200 rpms can
roll along a tool, up your arm, pop up when you pull away and give you
a whack on the noggin. So much for my theory that gravity pulls it
down, and your head is more or less safe from big hunks of wood! And
no- I was not wearing my face shield, though I imagine I will be next
time. The rotten part is, I doubt it would have helped anyway- it
came from below, not head-on.

It'll be fun explaining the big bruise on my forehead at work-
especially when I just sold one of the guys I work with my midi
lathe... I guess it'll be a good example of what *not* to do!

"Prometheus" wrote in message
...
I discovered how a blank *can* crack a guy in the head first-hand this
evening. Turns out, a hunk of willow spinning at about 1200 rpms can
roll along a tool, up your arm, pop up when you pull away and give you
a whack on the noggin. So much for my theory that gravity pulls it
down, and your head is more or less safe from big hunks of wood!

It only goes up if you hook it below. The safer way is to cut convex shapes
from above centerline, where a carelessly lowered handle grabs air, and
attempts at too big a bite press the bevel against the work, which pushes it
out away. Entry cuts start high and cut down and in to make things even
safer, transitioning to lower handle passes.

It may not be automatic yet, but if you make it an item of interest for a
bit, you'll adjust your grinds or gouge choices as required to make it so.
Lots safer.

I favor below centerline inside for the same reasons.

Sorry about your accidental injury, Jesse.

You, Robert and Andy raise a knotty question re the limits of paying
attention to the risks of injury in a woodturning shop. I may raise that
issue in a separate thread, but in this thread I hoped someone would
address the special problem if it exists at all, re inhaling the dust of
a dense inert metal alloy (dima). Dime Bombs in the Middle East will
almost certainly be news in the days to come.

As a woodturner I ask: what dima are in powdered metal turning tools?
Do they pose any special significant risks? If so are special
protective precautions necessary, feasible or worth the trouble and
expense? I think we have the experts to lay these questions to rest for
us here & now. If not, someone will know how to look the info up (or
down 'G') for all of us to share, since "The half of knowledge is to
know where to find knowledge".


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

On Sun, 10 Dec 2006 12:39:35 GMT, "George" wrote:


"Prometheus" wrote in message
.. .
I discovered how a blank *can* crack a guy in the head first-hand this
evening. Turns out, a hunk of willow spinning at about 1200 rpms can
roll along a tool, up your arm, pop up when you pull away and give you
a whack on the noggin. So much for my theory that gravity pulls it
down, and your head is more or less safe from big hunks of wood!

It only goes up if you hook it below. The safer way is to cut convex shapes
from above centerline, where a carelessly lowered handle grabs air, and
attempts at too big a bite press the bevel against the work, which pushes it
out away. Entry cuts start high and cut down and in to make things even
safer, transitioning to lower handle passes.

I'll revisit that- I've been turning for a couple of years, but I
found that *for me,* cutting at or near the centerline was giving the
best results. Haven't tried cutting high in a while, except for when
using the skew.

It may not be automatic yet, but if you make it an item of interest for a
bit, you'll adjust your grinds or gouge choices as required to make it so.
Lots safer.

I favor below centerline inside for the same reasons.

On Sun, 10 Dec 2006 11:11:00 -0500, (Arch) wrote:

Sorry about your accidental injury, Jesse.

You, Robert and Andy raise a knotty question re the limits of paying
attention to the risks of injury in a woodturning shop. I may raise that
issue in a separate thread, but in this thread I hoped someone would
address the special problem if it exists at all, re inhaling the dust of
a dense inert metal alloy (dima). Dime Bombs in the Middle East will
almost certainly be news in the days to come.

As a woodturner I ask: what dima are in powdered metal turning tools?
Do they pose any special significant risks? If so are special
protective precautions necessary, feasible or worth the trouble and
expense? I think we have the experts to lay these questions to rest for
us here & now. If not, someone will know how to look the info up (or
down 'G') for all of us to share, since "The half of knowledge is to
know where to find knowledge".

Well, I am absolutely not an expert on the subject, but I have spent a
lot of time grinding metal in a professional capacity. It could be
dependant on your personal body chemistry, but the only metal dust
that ever made me so much as cough was when using a diamond wheel to
sharpen carbide. At a glance, that would be a mixture of diamond
dust, binder, carbide, cobalt, and/or tungsten. That was extremely
fine dust, and at least one of those did seem to build up in the body-
my guess is the cobalt, but all of it was pretty subjective based on
how I was feeling. That could have been affected by any number of
things.

If it is a concern, you might want to consider getting a grinder with
a coolant pump and drip tray- not only will it keep the dust down, but
it might make for a better sharpening experience as well.