Info for new turners- DON'T DO THIS

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jimship15

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For anyone new to turning I thought I might start this as kind of a learning thread. We have all seen some of Tim the tool man's exploits. We could share some of our own....remember, it's all in fun.

I'll start.
DO NOT try to blow a clog out of your CA applicator tip right after unsrewing it from the glue bottle. It still has CA in it, it tastes bad, it glues the tip to your lower lip and your lower lip to your gum. Then the acetone burns realllly bad and makes you hop around the shop like doing some kind of rain dance and making all sort of wierd noises.

Don't ask how I know this...

I've heard stories:D

Why did I think I could blow a clog out of the applicator, DUH!!!
 
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alxe24

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The tips of CA can be dip for a few hours on acetone. They will look like new. Instead of trashing the used ones or keep on cutting the tip shorter and making a bigger opening give them a bath.
Tha also works for the bushings should you have CA build up.
Don't do the bath ovenight on plastic cups. This is not a pic of my shop is some dude I knew [:D], I don't associate with people like that.[}:)]

Before and after.

Melt-down.jpg
 

Ozzy

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My tip is when milling pen blanks always hold the blank in a vice (or anything else besides your fingers). Before I got my drill press...uhh, wait... I mean, I have a friend that didn't have a DP, he always held his blanks with his fingers and used a hand held drill to mill his blanks. After two blowouts (yes, it happened twice) and ripping his thumb and forefinger to shreds, he started using vice grips and then graduated to a vice and DP.
 

Mikey

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Ozzy, I did that with a handheld drill, but instead of a blowout, the blank slipped and I wore a nice grove into the top of my thumb. Thank goodness the drill wasn't at full speed.[:(]
 

Tanner

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Make sure you change bits when drilling the tube holes for kits that use different size tubes for the same pen. A friend of mine has done this twice now.[:I] He now drills the smaller hole first then changes to the bigger bit for the bigger tube, just in case he forgets to change to the bigger bit for the second tube hole.[;)]
 

GaryMGg

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If you're disassembling a slimline and holding the barrel in your bare hand, wrap a plastic baggie around the hardware end of the barrel. A friend of mine [:D] wasted valuable turning time searching for the missing part when it went flying out of the barrel into the shop somewhere.

Gary
 

pete00

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a friend of mine told me....

To prevent blow out on bottom of blank, dont drill all the way through blank, leave 1/8-1/4 inch or so.

with this tip in mind if you have to pour ca in hole for what ever even though there is no hole on bottom the the ca will come out through the pores in wood and glue your fingers to bottom.

Using paper towels to hold blank next time will only make the ca glue stick faster and leave little paper blotches on your fingers for a week

my friend still does it sometimes.....[}:)]
 

ElMostro

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My "Friend" was looking for a faster way to finish pens (lazy bum)...sprayed some high gloss from a can while pen was turning a 3000 RPM and...well...did a lot of scraping and cleaning on the lathe and had to go back to 150 Grit on the pen blank to save it, Oh and despite having eye protection ended up with a partially glossy eye-brow [V]
 

byounghusband

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When turning a cigar pen....BE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN you have
.......

You have the center bushings in the correct order!! My friend screwed up the first pen he did for the 2006 PITH..... [B)][B)] But the 2nd one looked MUCH better anyway!![8D][8D]
 

pssherman

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Paragould, Arkansas, USA.
I have a "friend" who was cutting the corners off of a thin flat blank in preparation to turn a vanity item. He did not notice that his finger was directly in front of the bandsaw blade as the cut was nearing completion. When the blade broke through the corner the tip of his finger jumped forward directly into the blade. You know, fingernails don't offer much protection against bandsaw blades. It left a scar on his fingertip as a reminder to THINK before cutting.

I've noticed we seem to have a lot of "friends" who have had "attacks of stupidity". A lot of pain and suffering (physical and mental) could be prevented if there was a vacine available for these "attacks of stupidity".

Paul in AR
 

Randy_

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I' m sure all of these "stupid" friends would be highly offended if they knew thier friends were using their miscues as subjects of ridicule.[B)] Let's give these unfortunate souls a little more respect.[^]
 

ed4copies

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<center>RESPECT!!!

I thought all you guys were my FRIENDS.

Now, every ONE of you has squealled on me.
Some friends!!!</center>
 

low_48

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Originally posted by ed4copies
<br /><center>RESPECT!!!

I thought all you guys were my FRIENDS.

Now, every ONE of you has sqealled on me.
Some friends!!!</center>

I thought Aretha Franklin was starting this post............
 
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Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA.
Originally posted by Ozzy
<br />My tip is when milling pen blanks always hold the blank in a vice (or anything else besides your fingers). Before I got my drill press...uhh, wait... I mean, I have a friend that didn't have a DP, he always held his blanks with his fingers and used a hand held drill to mill his blanks. After two blowouts (yes, it happened twice) and ripping his thumb and forefinger to shreds, he started using vice grips and then graduated to a vice and DP.
I think that all of these posts are pretty darn scary! But, I personally haven't yet made a mistake with finishes or gotten my tongue stuck to the pen blank, or the accelerator tip, yet. But the thing that I have had the worst luck with in pen turning has been with the barrel trimming/milling. I ruined my very first pen that I made at home by using the PSI barrel trimmer that got caught in the blank and riped it apart. I have also bought 3 barrel trimming sets and the 7mm shaft has always let the brass tube slip under neath and let the brass tube protrude, and when I was trying to sharpen the other day, or practice sharpening, the miller's head, I forgot there were two screws and I slipped with my hand as I was trying to seperate it and split my thumb open and now have a wound on my thumb.
I think that i have more injuries to come w/ barrel trimmers, I am using a hand drill and hand, I think I will change that to a DP and clamp.[8D]
Dillon
 

workinforwood

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Eaton Rapids, Michigan, USA.
Friend of mine was working on his motorcycle in the woodshop one day. He had the plugs out and was pouring some oil down in the cylinders because the engine hadn't been run in a very long time. He then kicked it over without the spark plug back in the hole and the oil shot out like old faithful all over his tools, his lumber, his wall and his ceiling. There is still a curious looking oil stain up above his lathe that could possibly be the Virgin Mary. What a dope ![;)]
 

jimship15

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I have seen posted either here or on another wood forum (imagine that)
"The most dangerous tool in your shop is the one you are using"

While I started this as kind of funny, it is amazing how many things we do not even think about while working around tools and equipment that could seriously hurt us.

I have been around tools and machinery my entire life, I am a retired firefighter and have learned that we should take nothing for granted. Regardless of some minor cut or serious injury, we have to remember that we have been given the <u>opportunity</u> by someone greater than us to tell others about our experience.

Please don't worry about looking foolish for doing somthing that you learned a lesson from that might keep someone else from doing the same thing if you share that event.

Thanks & God Bless,
Jim
 

DaveM

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Houghton Lake, Michigan
My "Friend" went to glue tubes in a bunch of blanks two days ago. He glued several offset blanks for making stepped slimlines, where there is a quarter to a third of an inch at one end without tubing in it. (Blank is longer than the tube) He used the potato trick to keep the glue out of the tubes. Then he pushed a wall of glue ahead of the tube into the bare wood. This morning, he went to clean and mill the tubes, and had to get the big glue goobers out of the bottom of the blank, forgetting that he couldn't get the potato plugs out of that end. Now he is cleaning a mix of Gorilla glue, and mashed potatoes off of his pen mill. What a mess when I ... I mean my friend, hit that first spud plug.
 

slincoln

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Clinton, WA, USA.
A friend (it may have been Ed) had been sitting while using some CA and had inadvertently spilled some onto his zipper. This little problem wasn't actually discovered until a hasty trip (often postponed until the last minute) out to the bushes behind the shop. Legend has it that there was a lot of thrashing and jumping up and down and cussing in the bushes causing wildlife to scurry off in all directions. Imagine the look on my friend’s wife’s face when he walked back into the house carrying his pants.

Scott
 

DaveM

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Today, I tried to clean out a 7mm tube with a 7mm bit... (Thought it was my 6mm one) Maybe I'm the reason the manufacturers sell extra tubes. [;)]
 

wudnhed

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Brawley, CA, USA.
Sometimes my friend opens her CA bottle with her teeth while squeezing and turning the bottle[:0] Sometimes she plugs her tubes with potatoes for gluing and then goes off and leaves them for a week or so[:(!] I know she used to put way too much CA on her blanks while spinning full speed on the lathe and put accelerator too. Her blanks ended up with spikes[:(] She's such a loser!!!!!!!!
 

Jamie

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Tucson, AZ, USA.
#1, when you spray lacquer from a spray can, be sure the little arrow on the plastic spray nozzle is not pointed at your eye.
#2, If you have just finished a blank that you have spent hours applying CA and sanding and rubbing out to perfection, hold it while you knock it out of the head or it may launch out into space, crashing on the cement floor, ruining the finish and making you feel really, really stupid.
#3, If you have your grinder set at the perfect angle to sharpen a scraper, be sure you put the scraper on the rest whith the correct side up.
#4, If you drop a bottle of thin CA on the floor then stand in a puddle of it while your picking the container up, when you stand up, 'do not' try to walk away quickly.
 
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Originally posted by jimship15
<br />I have seen posted either here or on another wood forum (imagine that)
"The most dangerous tool in your shop is the one you are using"

Reading all of these "hilarious mishaps", I'm beginning to think the most dangerous tool in the shop might be "my friend"..

"my Friend" has made so many blunders, I don't know where to start.. right now "he" is nursing a jambed thumb by trying to hold down a small log on the chop saw with his hand instead of a proper hold down.[:I]
 

GBusardo

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Originally posted by wudnhed
<br />Sometimes my friend opens her CA bottle with her teeth while squeezing and turning the bottle[:0]

Oh lordy! This brought back very bad memories. If you are curious, I have an old thread of my experience doing just this very thing. Unfortunately, I was laying on my back at the time [:I]
 

oldtoolsniper

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Iowa.
I know this guy who put a big ole fat chunk of whitetail antler in his talon chuck to turn it to a semi round state for drilling when the phone rang. Last known speed of lathe… umm top….chuck not tightened, phone call over, a little flip of the red switch and the same antler removed itself from the talons grip and proceeded to ricochet off some part of the lathe and collide into his un-engaged brain housing group. Antler sure is hard stuff. Brian housing group is now properly engaged. [:p]
 

thetalbott4

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Roy, Utah, USA.
A friend (it may have been Ed) had been sitting while using some CA and had inadvertently spilled some onto his zipper. This little problem wasn't actually discovered until a hasty trip (often postponed until the last minute) out to the bushes behind the shop. Legend has it that there was a lot of thrashing and jumping up and down and cussing in the bushes causing wildlife to scurry off in all directions. Imagine the look on my friend’s wife’s face when he walked back into the house carrying his pants.
That is, without a doubt, the funniest unfunny thing I have ever heard. The CA was the only thing to harden for quite some time, I'm sure.[:I] I bet you do all your gluing at arms length now.[:D]

I heard of a guy that uses his shop vac as his duct collection right at the blank when turning and finishing. Apparently this idiot didnt realize that accelerator is flamable and sprayed a bunch on a blank that was very pourous and covered in CA. Flamable stuff and electric vac motors dont do well together, trust <s>me</s> him. The vac survived the ordeal, but <s>my</s> his pants didnt do so well.[xx(]
 

Jerryconn

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I saw this guy [;)] while he was putting on the thin CA to start his finishing routine, lathe on slow speed, test the CA to see if it was dry with bare fingers..... @#^&lt;&gt;!!! a real DA [;)][;)]
 

pete00

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methuen, massachusetts, USA.
In remembering all my friends mishaps, im sorry to say that as im reading these, im going ....you did that also, no way i thought i was the only one silly enough to do that......

YES!!.... im not really woodworking challanged im just a normal woodworker....[:D][}:)][:D]

Although if we keep this stuff up we may be a short lived woodworker..[B)]
 

Stevej72

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Billings, MT, USA.
Jim, thanks for the tip. I use a biometric pad to read my fingerprint for passwords on my computer, and when I get too much CA on my fingertip, I can't log on.
 
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