I need some clean pants

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Cwalker935

Cwalker935

Member
Joined
May 18, 2014
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Location
Richmond, Va
For Halloween, I decided to try something really scary. I wanted to turn an end grain piece with very irregular sides. The piece of cedar that I decided to try it on had some cracks running through it and exploded just when I thought that I was going to pull this stunt off. Well it scared the you know what out of me. I had to change my pants. My wife says that I have to do my own laundry today. She is just not very understanding.

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I love working with cedar, but I stay away from big pieces & especially irregular stuff just for that very reason. Glad you weren't injured when it exploded.

That would surely have made a beautiful piece if it had stayed together.
 
Those are some big pieces that came off. I'm glad the only other thing that was damaged is your pants!

Whenever I see questionable cracks in large pieces I fill them with CA before I start turning. Sometimes I get past the CA fill and the crack is still there. More CA. Repeat. I don't like UFO's in my shop.

One thing I like about my new PM3520B is the safety cage. I know many Turners remove it and never use it. I keep it handy and use it on questionable pieces. Fortunately it hasn't been crash tested yet.
 
I had a huge blank of ERC I was saving for a special project.
I had it drying for about 7-8 years.
It had lots of movement in the grain & was highly figured.
Pretty wood, all in all.

I had it sitting on my workbench & my wife decided to shove it aside to use my bench. It hit the floor & exploded. My wife asked me what it was & I told her. She asked me what it was now. I told her "It's a doorstop now".

:frown: :rolleyes:
 
Been there and done that.... Last time I turned a piece of cedar that big and full of bark inclusions I wrapped the outside with packing tape (the kind with string in it) so it looked mummified It did not come apart but I had a piece of solid mesquite come off the lathe and bounce around the shop making enough noise the neighbor came over to check on me (didn't get hit).
 
I had a red cedar peppermill come apart on the lathe at the center for the blind last week. Made my student understand why I make them wear that face mask for peppermills and stoppers. Fortunately, it flew away rather than toward the turner. For pens they usually just wear goggles, but I always make them wear full face masks for larger items.

A weird one the other day. A cedar bottle stopper came apart and one of the pieces flew across the room to the belt sander where another trainer was sanding a seam ripper. It hit the top of the ripper he was holding on the belt sander and broke a chip off the ripper. Startled a bunch of people, but no damage done except to the ripper and the stopper.
 
Lost a light above the lathe one time, made me more selective on what I turn. Glad we can talk about it w/o injuries.
 
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