Are your tools dangerous?

[James White]

This is why I rarely turn. Not because I am afraid of the machine. I am just unable to enjoy it due to the anxiety of having a catch as you get closer and closer to the final product. It's not so much worrying about getting hurt but rather loosing all the work you put in. LOL With that said if the lathe was powerful enough to literally wrap you around the part being turned. Then I probably would be afraid.

Being a turner, my favorite cautionary quote is: "other tools can maim you, your lathe can kill you" and this has happened along with very severe head injuries.
A lathe looks like a pretty safe tool compared to something with spinning blades and cutters. High risk is usually by exploding blanks due to cracks or burls that have not easy to see cracks or the supporting wood gets turned away and the burl is only held together with convoluted bark. Centrifugal force is the problem so the pieces can fly in any direction.

[Bill Howatt]

This is why I rarely turn. Not because I am afraid of the machine. I am just unable to enjoy it due to the anxiety of having a catch as you get closer and closer to the final product. It's not so much worrying about getting hurt but rather loosing all the work you put in. LOL With that said if the lathe was powerful enough to literally wrap you around the part being turned. Then I probably would be afraid.

Losing the work you've put into it is how view routers . Really bugged me watching router-based TV shows years ago when they'd zip the thing around with no issues at all which didn't seem to align with my experience.
Instances of turners being wrapped around the workpiece are typically related to loose clothing getting caught resulting is some serious injuries.

[Mike Henderson]

This is why I rarely turn. Not because I am afraid of the machine. I am just unable to enjoy it due to the anxiety of having a catch as you get closer and closer to the final product. It's not so much worrying about getting hurt but rather loosing all the work you put in. LOL With that said if the lathe was powerful enough to literally wrap you around the part being turned. Then I probably would be afraid.

I often think about that with every project I do - more furniture than turning. As the project develops you have more and more time and effort invested in it. A mistake (such as cut something too short) at the beginning of the project generally means getting a new piece of wood and starting over. A mistake towards the end of the project will ruin a lot of time and supplies invested. And make you question whether you want to do it all over again.

I try to do things that I might mess up on early in the project.

Mike