Oops!

[Mark Placek]

This afternoon while roughing a bowl (16" x 16") made from South American Mahogany I had my first accident. I was wondering if it was ever going to happen since I've turned a great number of these square bowls without any problems.

I had about 4-5 hours invested in the bowl so it's not a huge loss. This species of Mahogany is very soft, the waste block was glued very well to the base and secured to the faceplate with 6 - #10 x 1" screws.

I was using a Sorby Hollowmaster with a shear scraper so my cuts were shallow. The blank was a little out of round but this shouldn't have been a factor. The lathe was set at about 450 rpm's.

I hope this never happens again, and I was sorry about loosing a nice piece but I'm glad that I didn't get hurt.

[Brian Effinger]

That sucks, Mark. :( Good thing you weren't hurt. Forget about this one and move on to the next. :)

Brian

[Barry Stratton]

....I was using a Sorby Hollowmaster .......

There's the problem!:D

That would of been a beauty! Glad you didn't get smacked.

[Richard Madison]

Mark,
Glad you were not hurt. Have enjoyed seeing your square and rectangular pieces.

[Curt Fuller]

Just call it "Baroque"!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Sorry to see your mishap. At least you weren't hurt.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Mark - glad you were not injured! Would have been a great looking bowl! Sure was a strange place to crack! Did you figure out what happened/caused it?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Mark...when they explode like that it can really get your attention and make face shield wearing believer!

[Reed Gray]

I was also wondering what caused it to blow. I don't see any catch gouge marks. Was it some unseen weak spots in the wood?

robo hippy

[art san jr]

Ouch !!! So sorry .... stuff happens. Thank goodness U're OK. Like they say, mark it up to experience, move on, and be safe.
Art.

[Jeff Nicol]

I see that the end grain was tearing out a bunch, maybe the orientation of the glue ups could have caused the problem. Like you said the wood is soft and I believe the grain very straight adding to it weakness when you got it turned down. Any little vibration could cause the weak wood to deteriorate.

Glad you still got all your parts, a good lesson learned!

Jeff

[Mike Golka]

Hard to tell from the picture but it looks like it may have been a weak glue joint. Glad you weren't hurt.

[Sean Troy]

Nice even wall thickness. I blew up two natural edge bowls this week but you just move on.

[Mark Placek]

Thanks everyone for your input, I looked closer at the bowl; the wood had a lot of tiny worm holes. Looks like powder post beetle holes, being Mahogany it could be something else.

I did learn a lesson, I took S.A. Mahogany off my list. I'll be back in the shop today, I have five other blanks ready to be turned. :)