Ron Smith ... Richmond, VA
03-05-2003, 12:51 PM
... this morning while turning. I had cut out a green cherry blank, about 12 inches around, maybe 9 - 10 pounds in weight. I started trimming it up on the Shopsmith (not made for this heavy turning, obviously) and was proceeding slowly due to the high wobble from the lathe. I was working outside since it's such a warm day today (mid - 60's) and with the lathe stand on the ground, it doesn't tend to wonder as much. To make a long story short, I made a tenon on one end to put in the Super Nova, reversed the bowl and started to rough hollow the inside prior to immersing in LDD. I hit a particularly nasty knot in the blank, broke the bowl tenon out of the Super Nova chuck and also broke my tool rest (photos). Scared the crap out of me, good thing I was wearing my face shield, as always. I felt a hard inpact on the shield, don't know if it was the rest or a piece of knot. Always wear your safety equipment. I have another tool rest on order, but it may be a few days ... give me time to settle back down. Ken, pens are starting to look more appealing all the time!