Turning Accident as copied from another forum......time to be careful.

[Josh Bowman]

An accidentPosted on September 28, 2012 (http://www.lynneyamaguchi.com/wordpress/2012/09/28/an-accident/) by Lynne Yamaguchi (http://www.lynneyamaguchi.com/wordpress/author/admin/)
I had a terrible accident with my lathe last Friday afternoon, September 21. A large (10-inch-diameter), heavy, partially hollowed mesquite vessel came apart while rotating at about 1200 rpm (too fast, I know). I knew the wood was cracked, and I had wrapped the outside with duct tape, but apparently not enough to hold it together. I didn’t even get a catch, wasn’t even touching a tool to the wood: the crack just gave. The vessel broke into three pieces; I think one piece split when it hit the wall. The piece that hit me weighs a little over a kilogram. I had removed my faceshield, so only my half-mask respirator and glasses (with polycarbonate lenses) were between me and the wood. Pretty much all of the bones in the left half of my face were fractured. My jaw doesn’t seem to have been injured. My eyeball did not rupture.
Surgery the following day repaired the bone damage. I lucked out in having as a surgeon one of the doctors who pieced Gabrielle Gifford’s eye orbit back together. He used four titanium plates to reconstruct my face, and he also stitched my eyelids back together. I’m told I look “100% better” than before the surgery, so he did a great job. And he did the surgery through the roof of my mouth, so there won’t be any scarring apart from my eyelids. Remarkable! The ophthamologist who saw me presurgery and two days after was astonished at how good I looked. He had expected me to be swollen to the size of a watermelon, based on my presurgery state. I can talk and eat soft food with small bites, and my energy level is good and improving daily.
I’ve since learned that the lens in my left eye has been displaced, which will require surgery to correct. The real question is whether the retina and optic nerve are damaged, for concussive damage to them would not be reparable. There is still too much blood in the eye to see what’s going on, so it may be a few weeks before I know if my vision can be restored. I am hopeful, because when the accident first happened, I couldn’t see anything. After the surgery, I could see some light, and by the next day, I could detect motion as well, with a black hole in the center of everything; that’s the holding status of my vision for now. So, please, concentrate any positive thoughts you want to send me on my having an attached, intact retina and healthy optic nerve; this will offer me the best chance at full recovery.
Thank you so much for your prayers and positive wishes. Your individual and collective support means so much to me. I have high hopes for full recovery, thanks to all your good wishes.

[Marc Himes]

What a horrible accident! It CAN happen to us. Another encouragement to be protected every time we turn.

Thanks for posting the account.

[Richard Kennedy UK]

God thats awful! Speedy recovery I hope Lynne feels a bit better soon.

[Jay Rasmussen]

Thanks Josh always good to be reminded. I hate to see anyone get hurt.

Trying not to sound cold but his comment:
“1200 rpm (too fast, I know). I knew the wood was cracked” is mind boggling without extra safety gear.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Thanks for the reminder. I agree with Jay about his comment that “1200 rpm (too fast, I know). I knew the wood was cracked” is mind boggling without extra safety gear should have been a clue."

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Every time I read one of these things it involves a cracked piece of wood or a blank with bark inclusions. I agree with John Jordon. "Life is too short to waste on bad wood". I avoid any suspicious blanks. Sure, that leaves out the artsy looking bowls with big voids and bark inclusions but I try to find other ways to enhance bland wood. Meanwhile, it is still worthwhile to get the Fear of God once in a while to assure safety. Glad this guy wasn't killed. He could have been.
faust

[BILL DONAHUE]

Thanks for the post and we wish her the best in recovery. Posts like this provide an important reason for being part of a forum like this. It reminds us of the importance of being vigilant about safety.

Was at a woodturning symposium recently and noticed that two of the nationally known woodturners were missing fingers. Don't know if both cases were related to woodturning but it's worrisome just the same.

[Allan Ferguson]

That was a very dangerous and injurious occurrence. Just a bad thing to have happen.

[Josh Bowman]

Here's what I took from this. If your lathe is on, so should your face protection. The point I get from reading ththis and others, any wood can come apart at any time.

[Nate Davey]

Expect the unexpected, Josh?

[Reed Gray]

If you are turning wood with defects, turn slower, and most important, DO NOT STAND IN THE LINE OF FIRE!

robo hippy

[Rick Markham]

That's horrible, and a very good reason to always wear your face shield! +1 on Reed's assesment! Why bother to take the time to tape up the piece and then not wear proper safety equipment? That is just foolish!!! Hard lesson to learn IMHO! Frankly I feel naked without my face shield, it's like wearing a seat belt, if you put the dang thing on everytime then turning without it doesn't become an option. Just my $.02

[Darren Jamieson]

Well I beleive it has all been said, to fast, no safty, bad wood....... I think if she could change what she did she would. It goes along way towards reminding everyone that as far as tools go the lathe is really a safe tool but that if used incorrectly it really can become dangerous. I know that I myself have removed my face sheild plenty of times so I could see better and I love using wood with splits or bark inclusion. I will be more carefull in the future, and I wish her a speedy and healthy recovery.

[phil harold]

Okay How strong is a face shield?
I know it will be better than nothing but a kilo (2.2lbs) hitting you at is going to destroy my cheap little face mask

Time to get one like the tree trimmer uses?

[Robert Henrickson]

Time to get one like the tree trimmer uses?

A kilo of wood is a hefty projectile, but perhaps a face shield would reduce injury. It would be a wise precaution.

None of the tree-trimmers I've seen have used face shields, and only some even helmets.

[ray hampton]

If you will click on her name , it will open her website and tell the story in a different light

[ray hampton]

In this case a football helmet would been better or maybe a motorcycle helmet

[Bill Boehme]

This is a good time for a reminder that a faceshield does not provide any protection from impacts since they have no energy absorbing mechanism and are too light for their mass to change the momentum of a large object. Their only purpose is to provide eye and face protection from small high speed particles.

I recently had a very similar thing happen with a 12 inch diameter mesquite bowl where a chunk about 8 oz. came loose. The difference is that I anticipated it possibly coming loose so I had the lathe slowed down and was well out of the line of fire. Even so, the piece had a very sharp edge, was flying too fast to be seen, and bounced of a couple walls before finally getting wedged under my truck tire. The moral of the story was that while I did a couple things right and was more fortunate than I deserved, I should have stopped sooner and decided whether the fault could be repaired to a safe condition or scrapped the piece.

I was wearing my Airstream helmet, but if the piece of wood that flew off my lathe had hit the faceshield, it would have shattered it with the greatest of ease and losing very little kinetic energy in the process.

[Roger Chandler]

I had a piece hit me a few months ago.....was turning at 1250 rpm.....that Uvex faceshield saved my bacon!

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?180412-My-Uvex-Bionic-faceshield-saved-me-a-trip-to-the-emergency-room-today!&highlight=

Be safe everyone!

[ray hampton]

I had a piece hit me a few months ago.....was turning at 1250 rpm.....that Uvex faceshield saved my bacon!

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?180412-My-Uvex-Bionic-faceshield-saved-me-a-trip-to-the-emergency-room-today!&highlight=

Be safe everyone!


I the not remember the name but they are show on T V , it appears to be thick Plexiglas with 2 holes plus gloves for your hands, I am very serious

[Tim Rinehart]

What an awful accident, and what amazing spirit she has going thru this. She's truly thankful she's alive is how I read it. I wish and pray for her recovery.

[kevin nee]

I am a big offender of no face protection. Yesterday I traded a couple
of pieces of my work for some raw burls. The person I traded with has
given up turning after a lathe accident like the one posted. He was Life
Flighted to the hospital and needed $30,000 dental work. The entire
ride home I thought about getting a better face shield. Now this post
makes it a definite. Any suggestions on a good Quality face shield?

[Russell Eaton]

I have the Bionic Face shield, it is very light and you have full field of view. I have had a couple of time when I was glad that I was using it. I think you can get them from Amazon for around 30$.

[Jim Underwood]

I've been wearing my Bionix even when turning pens and small spindles. I had a small piece hit me once, years ago, and that's all it took to make me wear a faceshield. Now watch me screw up and forget...

[Rick Markham]

For anyone interested in what their faceshield is rated for there is an ANSI rating with a number after, if you google that specification it will tell you. From most of the research I have done in selecting mine, most face shields aren't rated for small high speed impacts, most are rated for low mass low velocity impacts! The bottom line is ANY reduction in kinetic energy is better than NO reduction in kinetic energy. There are many different designs, and many different materials all have different ratings. I hope she fully recovers and wears a face shield from now on. You can either learn from someone else mistakes, or you can be a statistic. I'm sure there are many folks on the creek that choose to disregard the warnings and push their luck with safety... it only takes a second to be sorry!

[Jeff Welch]

Prayers for her full recovery!

[Kenny Eaton]

Wow, that's a scary situation!

I heard Stuart Batty mention at one point that wood below 1000rpm falls to the floors if it comes loose, over 1000rpm and it goes airborne, regardless of size. I've had pretty good luck following that.

[Glen Blanchard]

I bought a Bionic face shield 2 weeks ago. It has been sitting in its shipping box since it was received. I bought it as I knew I should be wearing it, but I have a pair of (full-size, over-the-ear) wireless headphones that I like to use when I am in the shop (the dust collector and air filter get noisy) and didn't think it likely that both could be used at the same time. After reading this thread, I have opened the box, assembled the shield and am wearing it regularly. To my pleasant surprise, its design does not preclude the use of my headphones.

My prayers for Lynne's full recovery.

[ray hampton]

Wow, that's a scary situation!

I heard Stuart Batty mention at one point that wood below 1000rpm falls to the floors if it comes loose, over 1000rpm and it goes airborne, regardless of size. I've had pretty good luck following that.

Are you willing to test this idea for everybody that are unwilling to get the surprise packet, if the chuck got 5 -point support or 5 jaws that grips the work then the last one to release will determine the direction of travel of the wood

[Dave Beauchesne]

We all take different degrees of risk at some time or another - here is perhaps a case where complacency kicked in.

I work at a Pulp and Paper Mill and am a TapRoot trained incident investigator. I have seen quite a few bad things happen, but most involve someone making a concious decision to do ' something ' that results in an unpleasant incident of varying severity.

Lynne appears to be a professional turner, so this wasn't her first ride on the rodeo - take this as a wake up call ( everyone - myself included ) and take the extra time - however long that is, to make it right, or, even though it may be a sweet piece of wood, abandon the thing altogether. I wish her a speedy recovery and all the best with her sight.

Just my 2 cents -

Dave Beauchesne ( rank amateur turner )

[Bill Boehme]

Wow, that's a scary situation!

I heard Stuart Batty mention at one point that wood below 1000rpm falls to the floors if it comes loose, over 1000rpm and it goes airborne, regardless of size. I've had pretty good luck following that.

Either you misunderstood what he said or he should have stated things more clearly. If a piece of wood dismounts, especially if between centers, then what you heard would be fairly accurate, but I would not sacrifice safety precautions based on a possible false sense of security. On the other hand if a piece comes apart because of flaws in the wood, then I can assure you that the wood will not simply fall harmlessly to the floor. That is one of the most dangerous types of situations that you are likely to encounter. Remember that John Jordan said that life is too short to turn bad wood -- and make it even shorter.