Full face shield... not a bad idea. :(

[Skye]

BAM! Friggin 1.5 square by 8" of hard maple blank flew off the lathe and hit me in the jaw. Very sharp edges so it managed to cleave me, then fly back at the work bench denting the wood. So, it left my face at a pretty good speed. Took 3 stitches. :beat-up:

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!Lesson learned the hard way.

 

[Lordnyax]

ouch! maybe time for me to invest in a face sheild..

 

[rjwolfe3]

Ouch!!!!!! I need to print this off and put it over my lathe as a reminder!

 

[ldb2000]

Impossible Skye , it must have been a bowl blank . A "simple little pen blank" can't hurt you :wink:
Glad you weren't hurt worse . Wearing a FULL face shield is a must , even just turning a "simple little pen blank" .

 

[Pens By Scott]

Well, heading into winter, I was considering moving down to just safety glasses to reduce fog up... but on second thought... Hope you mend fast.

 

[jttheclockman]

And this why we wear at least safety glasses and anyone showing their kids without them needs to see this. Nice to have your kids spend a day and how cute it is to see them turn their first pen but things do happen with spinning tools amd machinery. Oh how we let our guards down. Heal fast

 

[Andrew Arndts]

Yeah, a face mask is a wise thing to use. I have a nice scuff across mine that came from the Jacob's chuck that came flying off the tail stock with a drill bit in it... It would have nailed me just under the eye. Possibly breaking the cheek bone. When I showed my wife, she apologized for being erked when she saw the receipt of how much I paid... any safety Item I want, she now asks where to get it, and how soon I need it.:biggrin: (and they say women train us)

 

[Skye]

Heh, thanks guys! It really wasnt as painful as it looks. Felt like a jab from a boxer, but it wasnt a sharp pain. I was turning a piece of hard maple, one of those big fat spindles you can buy from woodcraft, almost stopper thickness. It was a pretty dang good smack to the face. Time to buy a *good* 4-jaw and a full face shield.

Yeah, pretty much anything can do damage to soft tissue at those speeds. Heck I've had tagua nuts jettison across the room at frightening speeds.

Be careful out there guys!

 

[Andrew Arndts]

BAM! Friggin 1.5 square by 8" of hard maple blank flew off the lathe and hit me in the jaw. Very sharp edges so it managed to cleave me, then fly back at the work bench denting the wood. So, it left my face at a pretty good speed. Took 3 stitches. :beat-up:

Didn't you have some CA glue? I would have handled it with a nice bead over the wound. :laugh:

JUST TEASIN.

 

[Fred]

Oush, just imagine what damage you would have done with a straight razor ...

An inch or so higher and slightly left and you would have had a very expensive dental bill. But I bet ya that Cav could fix it right up! Of course you wouldn't want to go to his 'office' since he is a prison dentist ...

Now just imagine if it hit you in the eye! Kinda makes one appreciate that grape you just stepped on!

Keep it clean and heal quickly, take several aspirins and post 'get well' pictures in a week to ten days. :biggrin:

 

[wolftat]

Can you do it again with a video camera setup please, I think it would have more effect that way. Thank you

 

[Phunky_2003]

Can you do it again with a video camera setup please, I think it would have more effect that way. Thank you

LMAO

 

[BigguyZ]

I have a full face mask, but I never wear it. No matter what I do, it fogs up immediately. And not being able to see is more dangerous than not having full face protection. If I have the money, someday I may get one of the higher end full-face respirators. But for now, glasses and a woodworking mask is all I'll get.

Were you wearing a mask of any sort? It seems that if you had a respirator, you may have had some cushioning there. Either way, glad it wasn't worse!

 

[JeffinWIS]

Well, heading into winter, I was considering moving down to just safety glasses to reduce fog up... but on second thought... Hope you mend fast.

I usually wear ear muffs so a chainsaw/loggers helmet works well. No fogging with the wire mesh face-shield, plus attached ear muffs.

 

[Skye]

No, I wasnt wearing a respirator of any kind, which I have a double canister one that probably would have saved me had I been wearing it!

 

[Steve Busey]

Glad you're still mostly intact, Skye!

At a minimum, folks, wear eye protection. 4 inches away and Skye could have been a one eyed Jack this morning... :frown:

BTW, Woodcraft sells some great bifocal safety glasses for us old folks!

 

[Kev]

BBBAAAAAHHHHH, its only a flesh wound :tongue:

you have made me rethink about wearing one though!

Kev

 

[cnirenberg]

Skye,
Glad it was just your chin, could have been a lot worse. It may be just a coincidence, I have been reading a lot of material on face/eye protection when turning with the metal lathe and getting bits of swarf in the eye and face. I say a lot of creative words when I get excited, I do not need another reason to. But then again I don't have a face shield.....

 

[Willee]

Thank you for posting the photo.
I have heard of people "taking it on the chin" before but that was the first photo I ever seen of it. <grin>

The smooth quiet running of a small wood lathe can be very deceiving as to the actual risk.
Any power tool needs to be respected for the energy it can deliver to our bodies.
Thank goodness your injury, as bad as it was ... was not more serious.

I got rid of my table saw after the second near miss ... I figure I am not bright enough to safely use the dern thing and the risk of injury was just too great.

 

[PenMan1]

Using a lathe without a face shield is like being a hockey goalie without use of a mask! Have you ever seen one of those guys smile? Nuff said.

 

[Skye]

Hockey, yeah, I don't want to get pucked up again.

 

[bad]

Good post Skye. I personally use bifocal safety glasses and a small respirator. The kind you can buy at the local hardware store. I've heard too many stories about how the sawdust from some of the exotics can play havoc with the lungs or worse are carcinogenic. I'll spend the money on one of those full face respirators with the battery powered pump that clips onto your belt at the back when I can afford it.

By the way, for my smart a$$ comment:
Maple blank 1
Skye 0

 

[Gofer]

OUCH, that looks like it was no fun at all. I have had my share of close calls, but knock on wood, no injuries anywhere near that bad.

It is a good wake up for the rest of us that tend to get a little too comfortable with the "harmless little" pen blanks. I wear a full face sheild with larger turnings but not when I turn pens, time to rethink that now.

Take it easy, heal up and get back at it again.

Bruce

 

[Skye]

Well and again, this wasn't a pen blank, but a non-rounded blank of a very hard wood or PR could probably do the same kind of damage. Always best to ere on the side of caution.

 

[Steve Busey]

Well and again, this wasn't a pen blank

So, from the other side of the problem, how was the wood secured (or not) on your lathe? Did the whole piece come off, or just a big chunk?

 

[Rojo22]

I STRONGLY recommend that if the ONLY reason you do not use the face shield is because it fogs up, to go buy a cheap can/tube/bottle of anti fog solution. You can find it at an eye glass store, or you can get it from the dive shops, as they sell the same stuff. Rub it on the inside of the face shield, and you should not have any more problems. It takes 5 minutes to make a face shield anti fog. I cannot stress enough the ability of the face shield to at least deflect some of the energy that these smaller items have. Eye protection is one thing, but a shot to the mouth can cause some serious dental issues, as one member here recently demonstrated, and I believe that was with a pen blank. Please use a face shield!


I am glad you are ok Skye, plus the chicks dig scars man.......

 

[rjwolfe3]

So I am assuming you were turning between centers and it slipped off one of the centers? I am glad you weren't hurt. I don't use a full face shield but I do have a hood with a shield that deflects all of the chips and dust down. I have had bowls slip off the chuck and go airborne though.

 

[Skye]

It was held by an old old Nova 4 jaw (shallow jaws) and a live center on the other. One problem was i last used the lathe while polishing something at 1800 rpm and I didn't lower the speed when I started roughing the maple blank. I had a few things going on and my head wasnt where it should have been. I touched my chisel to it and kablamo it shot completely out of the jaw and bounced off my face. I think since it was still square one of the sharp edged got me.

 

[nava1uni]

Glad that it wasn't worse. I always use a face shield and the other day wasn't going to cuz, I was just turning a "little" piece of acrylic. Decided to just wear it anyway and sure enough the small piece flew out of the chuck and slammed into my face shield. I was glad I had changed my mind and wore it.
I use a product called Rain Shield that I get at the auto parts store, it helps with the shield not fogging.

 

[snyiper]

To keep a mask or glasses or even the bathroom mirror from fogging use baby magic. put some on a towel wipe on a thin film covering it all, let it dry and then buff with a clean cloth. Try it we used to use it in paintball masks to stop the fogging!!! Any soap will work that is a liquid just dont want to get any in your eyes even after drying.

 

[Padre]

ouch! But, like a fencing scar, it will make you more handsome! :redface:

To kind of protect myself in many ways at the same time, I use the full face shield Trend Airshield Pro. Love it! It is one fine piece of equipment. Pricey? Absolutely. Worth it? Every penny.

 

[workinforwood]

Yea, it's pretty nasty, but now you have some character to your face. :biggrin:

I would suggest a lathe shield as opposed to a face shield. Might even be a cheaper investment, I'm not sure. The reason is simple enough though...over time you can get lazy and forget or just not bother putting on your face shield..heck, you've spun tons of wood and only one mishap, so the thoughts come in where you figure it won't happen this time and then Murphy Law will kick in. With a Lathe Shield, you don't have to remember to put it on and the thought that you won't need a shield this time won't matter because on the lathe, it just is on all the time. The lathe shield will also protect part of your body as well. However, if you stand just right, and the wood comes off with just the right amount of shield and table deflection, you can still take it in the nuts. :tongue:

 

[Padre]

Yea, it's pretty nasty, but now you have some character to your face. :biggrin:

I would suggest a lathe shield as opposed to a face shield. Might even be a cheaper investment, I'm not sure. The reason is simple enough though...over time you can get lazy and forget or just not bother putting on your face shield..heck, you've spun tons of wood and only one mishap, so the thoughts come in where you figure it won't happen this time and then Murphy Law will kick in. With a Lathe Shield, you don't have to remember to put it on and the thought that you won't need a shield this time won't matter because on the lathe, it just is on all the time. The lathe shield will also protect part of your body as well. However, if you stand just right, and the wood comes off with just the right amount of shield and table deflection, you can still take it in the nuts. :tongue:

When you say lathe shield, do you mean the metal type or the type with plexiglass? And where would you find one? Thanks.

 

[TellicoTurning]

I wasn't going to show this, but decided you might not feel so bad after you saw this... this happened about 6 months back.. I took my face shield off so I could see better and the bowl was in a Longworth chuck, but guess not tight enough.... the bowl was about 10 inches and only spinning about 450 rpm.. I just touched the bottom to fix a little place I didn't like... I don't know where he came from, but I'm sure Tyson showed up and smacked me when I wasn't looking.... a face shield is a great idea..:biggrin::biggrin:

 

[Rojo22]

I can promise you, not using the face shield is one of those things that after something happens, you really wish you did have it on.

I have taught classes and have students tell me they have been turning for hundreds of hours and never had a problem. I tell all my students that their personal safety is their own responsibility, and I do not force the use of face shields, but strongly recommend them. It only takes a second of broken concentration for disaster to happen.

We taught a class at John C Campbell where a student had not turned since high school (He was older than 65), and felt he did not need a face mask. Not only did the student take a bowl gouge and "shove" it into the segmented bowl blank, causing the bowl gouge to self feed to the bottom of the flute and proceed to throw the blank out of a very secure Vicmarc large chuck (the secureness of the piece was checked by both me and the instructor), the blank came up and split his forehead just 2 inches above his right eye. We were lucky to have a very seasoned emergency room nurse in the room, who quickly took charge of the situation and made a 10 stitch cut above his eye a walk in the park for the rest of us. We sent him off to the hospital after we had the bleeding stopped and he wasnt going to pass out.

The blank was a 10 inch segmented piece and was very heavy. He was lucky that it did not catch him in the eye, although the forehead was bad enough. Once the bowl blank had hit him in the head, it headed up to the 12 foot ceiling of the shop, came down on the floor, bounced over the feet of the resident artist just entering the shop through a door, climbed the wall, and then put a dent in the garage door about an inch deep and as big around as a softball.......The glue job on the segmented piece never failed.

After he left for the emergency room, EVERY STUDENT DONNED A FACE MASK. There were only two students wearing them before the accident, and they were a husband and wife who had not turned before.

PLEASE WEAR PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT AT ALL TIMES....IT TAKES JUST A MICROSECOND TO CAUSE A PROBLEM!!!!!!!!! Wishing you had one on after the accident does not help you!!!!!

As an instructor, it is very hard to feel good about a class if someone is hurt in the process of learning. We try to teach safety as well as the skills needed to complete the projects. Please keep listening to the echo of Norm's safety warning in the back of your head when using power tools! BE SAFE!!

 

[workinforwood]

You search for lathe safety shield, you come up with tons of results, some are inexpensive yet possibly good enough and some of them are thousands of dollars. There are also metal screen safety guards that are probably a better choice yet, because they can not only withstand better impact, they do not get dusty so fast nor do they get scratched up.

here's a chincy one, but for a pen could be just the thing

http://www.protechsystems.com/mechgrd1.htm

This one is totally reasonable in price and is the most popular one or at least style that I usually see people use. Some of the big machines actually come with this type of model installed on them. It's adjustable and flip up out of your way.

http://www.rockfordsystems.com/online/safeguarding/translatheshlds.cfm

 

[Rojo22]

There is a face shield that is suitable ONLY for pens at Harbor Freight right now for $3.99. It will stop all of the stuff from a pen blank, but it wouldnt be advisable for anything else.

Several other masks at Rockler and Woodcraft run $15-20 and would be ok for using during smaller bowl turning.

If you are looking to turn larger bowls, invest in the best protection you can....even if it is a bodged face mask shield (plastic) with a football helmet...LOL...or a motorcycle helmet.....just make sure the chin straps dont dangle.....

 

[Tanner]

Dang, you're lucky it didn't hit you in the eye. I'm glad I take the corners off at the drum sander. I have a full face shield, but never wear it. Now I'm rethinking that.