Ouch,don't do this

[dicklaxt]

I once let the gap between the work piece and the tool rest get to large.It wasn't really all that large but probably approaching 3/8 of an inch,,,,

It was one of those relaxed moments when I got a bad catch and I could not react fast enough to gain control of the tool,the tip of the tool went down into the gap,my left hand slid down the tool and my index finger also went into this gap and all hell broke loose.It stalled the machine and it shutdown on overload,thankfully.

When you recover from the incident which is only a few seconds and you see your finger at a crazy angle and blood spurting everywhere you think,Oh CHIT!!!! what have I done now.It kinda makes you get sick to your stomach.

A little flesh on top and bottom of the finger was all that was keeping it attached, end of story.

Moral of this story, stay alert at all times and don't let the machine have control, ever!!!!!!!!

[TDHofstetter]

I remember that incident, Dick - but I flinched the second time now, reading about it again...

[sachbvn]

Barf - yuck man..... so you put the tool rest as close as you can to the work piece when turning? This doesn't sound like what I see in "how too" vids.... *shiver* I'm still thinking about that - yuck.


Zac

[TDHofstetter]

Yeah - ya really want the toolrest as close to the work as you can reasonably get it - moving it in periodically as you shape. Gives you more support & control as you get closer, by leaps & bounds... and helps prevent bangs like this one - rare but it can happen.

[Ruffnek]

Yep, Ideally the tool rest would always be positioned to where the spinnning piece just cleared it by a hair...a red one.

Practically, however, that isn't always possible and besides, as you remove material, the gap is steadily widening so keeping the tool rest a hair's breath away is not feasible.

With tools like the Sorby Hollowmaster, the tool rest has to be kept several inches away from the vessel in order to keep the straight portion of the shaft on the tool rest.

The real lesson there is to always anchor the tool first and never let your fingers go beyond the tool rest...ever.

Dick, IIRC, weren't you also working between the chuck and the bottom of the vessel?

[Ruffnek]

Hope I don't get in trouble for this but here's Dick's story on the referenced incident.

I am (or was)in the early stages of building a center piece for my daughter's DR table...I guess that goes on hold for 4 to 6 weeks now as I can't hold my tool very firmly .HAHAHA
I had the base platter mounted on a base and a waste block. I wanted to rough turn it to basic round so I could glue on some accent wood on the top edges before starting turning final.The base platter was to be 14 3/4" in diameter.

I had trued up the OD on the base itself and decided to do a little work on the bottom side of the platter before removing from lathe and finishing the glue up.

I was working on the backside between the headstock and platter, I had a 5" tool rest in place 1/4" away and parallel to the platter underside. I had made three cuts putting a small upward taper to the platter underside when I decided to go on and roll the cut surface into the rough turned base...............

BANG,POW, AW CHIT MAN !!!!!!!!!!!!and I'm standing there with the gouge in my right hand, blood spewing forth from the left with each heartbeat , hey didn't get any blood on the wood , didn't break the tool.The tool rest had moved to the right and jammed into the platter underside and stalled the lathe motor. I layed down the gouge , turned the lathe off and grabbed a clean rag from the rag box and went crying to the War Department, "saying let's go to the Emergency Room",Thats her 3rd trip in the last 4 weeks and she said she was sure tired of that place and was putting me on a no entry to the shop status.

I tried to reconstruct the mishap in my mind at the ER while the extended wait (as usually is the case)was taking place and just could'nt get it to work out..........anyway after all was said and done and I got back to the house. I went out to the shop to have a look at the setup ,it was quite readily apparent what had or must have happened.

I was moving the gouge along the tool rest( note here that the tool rest is parallel and 1/4 " away from the platter underside and the end of it is 1/4" away from the platter base) making a shearing cut to the underside of the platter. I remember nearing the base while making the cut and I took a little firmer hold on the gouge handle and eased it into the base...Boom!!!! Thats where and when the next few seconds of finger destuction took place. I can only assume that the gouge slipped off the back edge of the rest causing the catch, my left hand must have slid down the tool handle onto the shank and my two fingers where pulled into the 1/4" gap between end of tool rest and base,with the base turning it kind of worked like a feeder. The gap of course being small something had to give and the fingers got the nod. The middle finger had about a 3/4 inch cut on top starting at the cuticle and going back towards the knuckle, the index finger had two cuts 1 1/2 " long each I'd guess,they were really more like tears as they were quite jagged in appearance. They were located on opposite sides off the finger on the sides, Picture this as if a knife was stabbed into the finger passing below and next to the bone and exiting the other side, this is the area where the fracture was as well ,so the finger was close to being torn off at this point.The two knuckles at the hand are swollen quite a bit and have more pain than the fracture does....I guess they had a pretty good twisting force as the fingers went though the gap.

I have a follow up with a bone guy Dr. today but all that has been done is all that is going to be done. If the bones are not alligned to his satisfaction then he will have to live with how I like it because he is not going to move anything around. They are positioned just like I like them right now.Who cares if a crooked finger is the result ,at least it is still attached.

Well thats my story and I'm sticking to it.............you didn't think I was going to let Limey get all the attention did you?Bull Chit , he can have it.

I think I'm going to change the design approach to this centerpiece so I can get all the turning done from a more comfortable location.

The moral of this story must be...."When it starts to become uncomfortable or just doesn't feel right , DON'T DO IT". I remember that sitution being present just before I said @@xx*^%$#!!!!
Dick the Story Teller

[dicklaxt]

Yep now that story does bring it all into focus,,,bad day at Black Rock LOL I still have that little crook in that finger.

How did you recover that story,I guess it was from ww.com

dick

[TDHofstetter]

Ya know... this is a good excuse for low-powered lathes & lighter cuts. If that'd been, say, a DVR... Dick... you'd be typing with one hand today.

[Doug B]

Ouch! That's gotta hurt something awful. Thanks for sharing the story...everyone who contributed