Shop safety....?

[Fred Perreault]

I have visited the Creek a few times, and have learned much from the questions and answers. It seems that the Newbies have all sorts of basic questions, and they often ask for innocent but basic information. Fortunately people don't seem afraid to ask simple stuff, and others offer great replies. With that in mind, I thought that I would mention 1) shop cleanliness, and 2) touch on the times when we all have a "failure" of some sort, such as broken or flying objects.
When my grandson was out of school this summer, I had an apprentice and helper. My shop was usually spotless. The attached photos show the "before" and "after", referring to when I had help, and when I was left on my own. The difference is clear, and the safety and fire hazards are obvious.
The other item would be the disappointment and danger associated with a failed turning. I had my share of cracks, splits, catches and flying projectiles early on, and with some folks that can be enough to cause them to retire early from their woodturning career. However, I persisted and became better for it. And that persistence was aided and abetted by the Creeksters who gave me renewed confidence.
With that, I would like to share my pics of my shop, and a couple of flying failures. One which cracked and split on the lathe, and a small piece flew off. In the other case, I had a catch, and the bowl hit the floor, my radial arm saw stand, the floor again, and then the wall. 20+ feet away. It was a pretty red cedar bowl, almost completed. Both of the bowls are now front and center, holding my faceplate and screws. They are a ready reminder.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Wow, that is some pile of shavings AND a nice Nova lathe too. It is amazing the amount of shavings you get from turning. How do you get rid of all the shavings?

[Bill Arnold]

Methinks I see a dust collector in somebody's future! :D

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I would have had to stop 3 times to unload my DC. You need a tractor. :)

[Ron Lynch]

That's not messy, I can see the floor in several different small spots

[Barry Elder]

What a great pile of mulch you have there. Some people would pay to clean that up to use in their garden!

[Mark Hubl]

Nice post Fred. I am on my second week with my Nova and loving it. Those curly's look great. My shop tends to go from pristine to mayhem as well. (No helper) Make great fire starters in the winter.

I am glad you admitted to your flying pieces. I have had a couple as well. I also noticed that both of the pieces had some serious knots. I bet this contributed to the catches. Keep on spinning.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great post. Yep that floor isn't dirty. Like Ron said there is still some floor showing.:D

[Fred Perreault]

I swap some of the shavings to some folks that raise laying hens. Some go to the family as occasional fire starter. More goes into the woods in a small hole for burial/composting. Some I breathe in all day, and pass at night, or cough up. The rest the dog eats.
A dust collector is in the cards, but methinks I may be sleeping alone for a while.

[Rob Robinson VT]

One benefit of shavings and sawdust is that they'll do a great job of cleaning up a really dirty concrete floor. Years ago I was part-owner of a commercial speaker cabinet manufacturing company. We moved into a new (to us) facility that had previously been home to a manufacturer of heavy equipment and the concrete floors were caked with 10-15 years of accumulated oil, grease, etc. Within six months of having accumulated wood chips and sawdust swept away each night they looked as good as new!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Part of the lesson plan when teaching a new assistant is the proper use of a broom and dust pan! :D

Sure looks like someone had a lot of fun!

As far as flying objects - I have a Cherry vase that was going to be absolutely beautiful - until half of the top blew up! Just stopped what I was doing and put the vase aside as a reminder that you have to be gentle when turning thin!

[Jim Sebring]

That bowl on the lathe musta started out as a really HUGE blank to have produced all those shavings.:D:D:D:D:D

[Denny Rice]

Only have one word for ya..........WOW!

[Aaron Wingert]

This thread made me think of a Laguna ad that ran in some of the woodworking magazines a couple years back...

It showed a bansaw I think, up against a framed wall surrounded by huge piles of sawdust on the floor. At the very edge of the picture the sawdust is piled up around the base of a water heater, which is barely visible. As a building inspector that picture always gave me fits every time I saw it! :eek:

[Jeff Nicol]

Fred, It looks like the lathe was put to good use and the turners had a great time seeing, smelling and feeling the wood come off the lathe! Your shop is much more organized than mine and much cleaner when it is in the clean state! Mine is so full of stuff that if some inspector type (Aaron) would come in he would have a coronary! It is getting better as my wife has chewed me enough times that it has sunk in that I don't need to bring every chunk of wood in the world home to the shop! Right now I have a dining room table and chairs in in that I fixed up and refinished for a nice young mother of 3 who found me through SMC! It is done and ready to go, which is good as it takes up all the extra space in the shop.

I have had the flying bowl expieriment in my shop a few times, the first one gave me 28 stitches in my forhead! The picture of me and the chunk that hit me in the head hand above the lathe as a good reminder of what not to do!

On a final note now that it cold out I can bun up lots of the stuff I brought home that turned out to be not such good turning wood!

Great post and keep on having fun,

Jeff

[Hilel Salomon]

A couple of things you might want to watch out for and one suggestion about the shavings/dust:

Don't use the shavings on shrubs as compost-at least not for a long while. I managed to kill a beautiful pigmy weeping birch by putting the shavings around it. I knew about walnut being deadly but found out that green shavings in general are poisonous. Apparently, over a period of time, they can turn into compost, but I think the time it takes varies with the wood;

I discovered another problem with having the shavings sit around the lathe and not being picked up. In VA, my shop is overrun with spiders, and some of the little critters get into the shavings. I've had them creep up and bite me on the legs while I was standing at the lathe. I don't have that problem in SC, but sure do have it in the VA mountains.

Lastly, If you know someone who has stables, they can often use the wood to help clean them out. My neighbor takes most of what I produce (over a year that comes to tons).

Luck, Hilel.