Big lathes with big wood on them are pretty dangerous, particularly given the hobby's love afair with turning live edge pieces from blanks with character (which often means they are mechanically dodgy. involve lots of interrupted cuts, and really gnarly grain). Those things can indeed lead to tragedy.
Last edited by Steve Demuth; 12-01-2022 at 9:27 AM.
How sad!
It is the first time I listen on a fatal accident on wood lathe operation. Perhaps something escaped and crashed against some mortal part of his body...
RIP.
All the best.
Osvaldo.
It’s kind of frustrating that the reporter knows absolutely nothing about the story other than the guy died. I’m curious about what happened. Did the piece shatter?
Like Steve said,more than likely something came loose and he caught it in the wrong place. I occasionally turn small stuff like bowls with squirrley grain and use a cross slide for it. That way, I can stand to the side while roughing and tend to use scrapers a lot to limit the depth of my cuts.
Lots of pros have horror stories
Machinist I knew 40 years ago told me a story of working in a big shop, Lockheed maybe. Engineer came out on the shop floor wearing a tie. Machinists told him not to do that. 'Don't tell me what to do ...'
....... "couldn't have happened to a nicer guy"
Heard or read a story of a guy wearing a loose shirt. Got caught up in a lathe and pulled him between the bed and shaft he was working on. Bent him over double, backwards.
I've found myself working at the lathe more than a few times, wearing long sleeves or a sweatshirt. Knowing it's a bad idea, I figure I'll get away with it, I'll be done in a few minutes anyway. One of these days, yeah, I'll be 'done'.
HP rating only tells you how fast it can kill you. As long as it's enough torque that you can't get out, it'll just kill you slow.
Of course he may have had a stroke and fell into the lathe that finished the job. They say most women who fall and break their hips actually do it in the opposite order.
Odd vocabulary, the reporter is obviously not familiar with catholic clergy terminology.
Bill D
This conjures up the same disturbing mental image as the old plumber tangled in his pipe threader. Very sad. Very horrific.
Best Regards, Maurice
The son of my mother's neighbor in Ireland had a near fatal accident working on a wood lathe early this year. The piece he was working on "exploded" and the gouge was forced back and into his head.
He spent a long time in a coma, if I remember it was over a month. Last I heard he is doing much better now, but with complications.
He was a lecturer on pediatric medicine before this - I don't know if he's back working now or not.
I have been a lot more wary around the lathe since I heard this.
Last edited by Mark Gibney; 12-01-2022 at 10:31 AM. Reason: typo
As someone who turns, http://www.woodturnersresource.com/c.../yabb2/YaBB.pl
In a sense, turning is no different from any other power tool in the shop.
Know what you're doing, and you can avoid 99.9% of incidents. Sure, there are a million ways to injure yourself, but the same can be said for any tool.
The news story leaves everyone guessing as to the actual cause
I remember when i was in school the architectural shop sent out a grizzly reminder with an article of a girl that died in her college's shop because of a lathe. Her long hair wasnt tied up securely and she was pulled into the machine. This would have been 2008ish. The story stayed with me, among others, because i often roll up sleeves and tuck in my shirt. I dont do much lathe work though.
Hair, yeah there's another one. The only personal incident I can recall with hair was my late teens, early 20's. Shooting a 375 H&H off a bench. Didn't realize my hair was long enough to get caught between the butt pad and my shoulder. Kinda hurt ...
Just remembered my dad getting his sweater wrapped up in a chip on a drill press. The *small* drill press, that had push buttons on the front of the head. The bigger ones had foot pedals. He managed to hold that arm away from the drill while trying to hit the off button with his forehead. It eventually pulled his sweater completely off of him without leaving a scratch on him.
Very sad, everything is OK until it isn't. I can't watch YouTube video's with close to blade operations anymore..