Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
Let's hear it for the face shield....
Barry Irby
I was turning ornaments today out of little scraps. They were a little irregular and hard to chuck. A piece about two by two by three inches had a hidden split and half of it flew off at 3500 rpm's and hit my face shield. It was over so fast I did not even blink. No damage done, but it would have been painful without the shield. Wear your ppg.
Re: Let's hear it for the face shield....
Bill Turpin in WNC mountains
There is a piece stuck thru the 1/8" paneling in my wife's shop. It has been left for years as a REMINDER! Luckily no blood attached.
Re: Let's hear it for the face shield....
Dave Delo
How timely.........Our chapter has committed to speaking on the subject of safety during every monthly meeting. Today, I had the opportunity to present the subject of eye, face & lung protection. One major point was just don't settle for safety glasses, put the face shield on always while machining.
speaking of Lathe Safety...
GaryG in MD
Dave,
Good for you! We need to hear this constantly, whether we be beginners or veteran turners. Years ago, I selected myself to be ad hoc "Safety Officer" of our club -- there's really no such position, but it is what we make of it, and I kept at it for a long time. One hopes it saved somebody from an accident that never happened, but of course we can't know such things and just take it on faith.
I haven't been keeping up with it lately, so out of a certain amount of guilt, let me share this article with everyone in hopes that you will all remember the "S" in SAFER. Please see pages 30-32 in the August 2016 MCW Newsletter for what happened to one of our members.
http://montgomerycountywoodturners.org/Documents/Newsletters/MCWNewsletter2016-09.pdf
Wear your face shields and do S.A.F.E.R. every time before you hit the "on" button.
Be safe out there! ...GG
I look back and Wonder.....
Barry Irby
May ten years ago I was in my shop on Sunday night and mounted a roughly octagonal piece on my lathe and since I was tired I decided to just turn it to a cylinder to get a better look at the wood and then quit for the evening. I always put my face shield on and then hit the ON switch. Somehow I got that backwards. While reaching for the shield I hit the switch. The piece flew off and hit me on the forehead, gashing me to the bone. A trip to the emergency room, 27 stitches. and about $2000 later, I was back home. I still don't know exactly what caused it to fly. It must have hit the rest. I thought I had checked it. It was a block of oak about 7" in diameter and 14" long. I still look back and wonder how bad it would have been if I had put the shield on first. I am convinced there would have been little or no damage to my face, but will never know.
There is a second lesson in this. I said I was tired. Had I been fully alert this may never have happened. Part of your PPG is your wits. Quit when you are tired and take a break.
Re: Let's hear it for the face shield....
don stephan
Equally important, make sure the faceshield has the best current impact resistance rating. It is easy too buy a faceshield with no impact rating.
Re: speaking of Lathe Safety...
David Walser
Gary -- Thank you for sharing the link. The story told was both interesting and harrowing. Wow!
Re: Let's hear it for the face shield....
Barry L Elder
Thank you for bringing up the need for safety equipment! We have all had incidents like yours and we were also fortunate! 
I completely agree...
GaryG in MD
That should be #1 on the list. ...GG
very good point, Don
Re: I look back and Wonder.....
Bill Howatt
Barry, at least you had the good sense to be making the effort to put the shield on when it went wrong. I wonder how many of us have thought that we're just going to knock a few corners off and what could go wrong with that?
I'm happy to say I do force myself to put on the shield even though I (erroneously) sometimes think what I'm going to do is no big deal.
Bill
I'm with you, Bill...
GaryG in MD
The temptation is always there, but I make a point of thinking about the downside and resist it. The alternatives are never expected, and the way to avoid them is deliberate consistency. We've all read about what can happen, and we don't want to be the one reporting a new case!
This applies at the grinder too! ...GG
Would a face shield help here?
John K Jordan
>>> I still look back and wonder how bad it would have been if I had put the
>>>shield on first. I am convinced there would have been little or no damage to
>>>my face, but will never know.
Someone commented that Lissi Oland didn't wear a face shield when turning this bowl. I wondered what difference a faceshield might make on a blank that weighs several hundred pounds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PMEJ7rirso
The video may be interesting for anyone who hasn't seen it. She cores with a chainsaw.
JKJ
Re: Let's hear it for the face shield....
don stephan
Coupled with a face shield, another strategy is to stay out of the "line of fire" - the direction a loose piece is likely to take. When working on a spindle or the outside of a bowl it's difficult if not impossible to keep the entire body to one side or the other of the wood. But often one can keep one's noggin and part of the body to one side or the other.
certainly very true... but,...
GaryG in MD
When things are coming off and hit the tool rest, they tend to get deflected into a slightly different different direction, so the "line of fire" is wider than one might hope/think. ...GG
