Watch out for flying wood...
David Hammond, in Powder Springs GA
>I spent my time here last night posting about last weekend's show - but I wanted to post yet another quick reminder for us all to be carefull out on the lathe...
I was roughing out a peice of Ambrosia Maple, that had several small stress cracks in the end grain, from felling the tree. I knew they were there, but dismissed them almost entirely, because I had turned more of this wood, and it wasn't a problem. I turned my dovetail and reversed the thick plate onto my chuck: two seconds into shaping the inside, at some 1300 RPM's, half the shallow bowl flew off the lathe, thudding into the wall quite soundly. Whew! That was enough for last night, and I just came on in: lesson one - I didn't have my face shield on, because I honestly just hate the thing when I want to spend a few minutes on the lathe. Lesson two - I'm thankful I was turning on a VB36, out of the line of fire... Had I been turning on any other bed lathe, that chunk of wood could have done some solid damage.
Enjoy yourself, but don't forget to look out guys and gals - anything can happen. If you can turn outboard, or at the end of the bed of a lathe with a movable headstock, try to do so, it's a lot safer...
David