# Had my first oops



## txkngfish (Oct 13, 2010)

Found out yesterday what can happen when a piece your turning decides to blow up. Working on a little larger bowl and half way throught turning it a piece breaks off. All I know is next thing I see stars and blood. Piece hit me right about left eye high. Safety glasses broke and ended up with a cut on my eyebrow, nose and a very red and sore eye. If I hadn't been wearing my glasses I believe I would have lost that eye. Makes me a firm believer on wearing eye protection.


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## Tortuga (May 21, 2004)

We ALL have our 'oops buckets' Kingfish... Just glad you had some protection.. You can never tell when that high speed machinery is gonna get a mind of it's own..and chit is gonna happen...


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## Robert A. (Jan 8, 2009)

Looks like it is time to add a face shield to the arsenal of tools!! Glad you are OK!!!


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## Slip (Jul 25, 2006)

^^^^^^^^ i got me an air purifier last year and is great. Not bad using itand no more caughing up saw dust, plus some face protection. Little pricey, but well worth the piece of mind! Used it on a few small jobs, but still gotta get out there and do a new project!


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## bill (May 21, 2004)

Did the frame break or the lens? 

Glad your ok. 

This is a good lesson for everyone to check their safety gear. We do get these reminders the hard way.


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## txkngfish (Oct 13, 2010)

I was wearing one piece safety glasses over my regular glasses. It hit on top of frame and it broke, knocked my regular glasses off and bent them and knocked the left lens out. Had decided to make a 6" bowl instead of the 3 1/2" I usually make. A very good and solid piece of cherry, that I liked cause it had a strange brown marking in it. Thats the spot that the chunk broke out. Had no cracks or any other bad spots in whole piece.


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## bill (May 21, 2004)

Dang, scary stuff for sure. It could have been worse. Nothing like that slow motion moment when things go wrong and not much we can do about it but watch.

I use a chuck with larger jaws. Sometimes it makes me wonder about going back to just using a faceplate and screws on a scrap piece glued to the good stuff. I also keep my tailstock in place during the rounding process. Turn a little, stop and check things, go back to turning


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## speckle-catcher (May 20, 2004)

I've had glue blocks separate from a bowl as well, so no guarantees there.


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## Slip (Jul 25, 2006)

I no longer use chucks for other than small items and no glue blocks either. I just screw into main project and allow an extra inch or two for decent sized screws and bunches of screws. My faceplate has room for 18 screws and I use them all. On my larger projects, they are very secure every time. Won't stop a piece from breaking off, but I know they are not coming off of headstock.


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## Slip (Jul 25, 2006)

Here are a couple in action with faceplate. These pieces are about 16" - 18" in length and 12" in diameter at this stage. Last pic is showing a piece taped also when a ad place is suspected when coring inside to prevent debris from flying.......just in case! Lol


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## mr bill (Apr 1, 2006)

Glad you weren't seriously hurt...Any accident on the lathe is too many... Would you mind sharing with us a couple of the conditions...

How fast did you have the wood spinning?

What tool were you using when the piece came apart?


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