Serious Bowl turning injury

[Roger Chandler]

The only thing I know is that it was a serious head injury, and some talk of the turner using a recess for a large bowl, and high rpm's. Members of wow can see the thread for themselves,. Someone mentioned a pic, but I have not seen any of it due to not being a facebook member. Perhaps someone with ability to access the info can report back here.

[Bob Bergstrom]

This was recently on Facebook. It said he was wearing a face shield and was recovering in ICU.

[Roger Chandler]

That is bad! Thanks for posting Bob!

[Reed Gray]

It was commented on at our club meeting tonight. He was supposedly wearing a face shield. Don't know if he was in line of fire or not.

robo hippy

[Grant Wilkinson]

Here is some text from WOWS. I understand that this is taken from the facebook post, so I hope it's OK to copy here.

"He was using a vicmark chuck, and had it internally chucked. It was a big piece of walnut, about 16" wide, 6" high and 3/4" thick at the rim, almost 1 1/2" at the base. He was done carving the bowl and was power sanding the outside, going at a high rate of speed. The bowl split in two and several chunks came off. Not sure the size of the chunk that hit him. It shattered the window behind the lathe.

He was using a Uvex shield and there is a piece of the frame missing at the forehead. The frame is completely split."

[Stan Calow]

Another non-Facebook user. Can someone summarize how this could have been prevented?

[Roger Chandler]

Another non-Facebook user. Can someone summarize how this could have been prevented?

Using a tenon for larger, heavier blanks is a better hold [usually] than a recess. Power sanding at high lathe speed can put side pressure on the outside of the form acting as a lever to pry the piece off the jaws. Inspecting the wood carefully for cracks, etc is important. Power sanding can generate heat, and produce cracking in the wood, so stopping often to inspect can help identify what is happening to the wood as you go to each grit.

Use light pressure when sanding, and use jaws with a mechanical hold [either dovetail or serrated]. Sanding is more effective when the lathe is at low rpm's.

[Mike Goetzke]

Using a tenon for larger, heavier blanks is a better hold [usually] than a recess. Power sanding at high lathe speed can put side pressure on the outside of the form acting as a lever to pry the piece off the jaws. Inspecting the wood carefully for cracks, etc is important. Power sanding can generate heat, and produce cracking in the wood, so stopping often to inspect can help identify what is happening to the wood as you go to each grit.

Use light pressure when sanding, and use jaws with a mechanical hold [either dovetail or serrated]. Sanding is more effective when the lathe is at low rpm's.

This is what I have been taught - wonder what RPM he was at?

[David Sloan]

I had not hear of this so thanks for bringing it to our attention.I have been hit hard once in the faceshield and it was frightening. It is always good to be reminded of safe woodturning practices and I hope this fellow turner makes a complete recovery.

[David Bassett]

Another non-Facebook user. Can someone summarize how this could have been prevented?

I don't know about this specific accident, but Lynne Yamaguchi Blog'd about a serious accident she suffered and the research she did into turning safety:

http://lynneyamaguchi.com/index.php/...dent-recovery/

If you dig into her posts, you can find a couple PDFs with articles and analysis she did on turning. (Short story: masks are for keeping tiny bits out of your eyes and face, not for impacts from chunks with serious mass.)

[Bob Bergstrom]

It certainly appears that a sharp edge of the broken portion of the bowl sliced up his forehard or possibly a section of his broken face shield. That is a long laceration for a blunt object impact. Something spinning up his head or being forced by a trailing object. That's a lot of staples.

[paul cottingham]

Bob, it could also be that they needed to do brain surgery on him. That would explain the number of staples. Every time they open up my head (I'm at 6 times, I think), I'm surprised at the number of staples it requires.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Another non-Facebook user. Can someone summarize how this could have been prevented?

Very easily, make sure there is/are NO splits in the wood and slow down the lathe speed, high speed is the danger that time and again strikes out and causes havoc even killing turners.

It seems to be hard for turners to take a good look before starting an a piece of wood

Here is a picture of a piece of wood that had pieces splitting off of it 3 times, and the turner was lucky to not get that against his noggin or he might not be turning still, you better have a close look at the wood you want to turn and not just go at it.

3 times from the same piece.jpg


Lynne Yamaguchi got nearly killed for the same reason, here is the picture of the piece that split off, where you can clearly see where the wood had a split and another one in there also.

The split wood that nearly killed.jpg

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Another non-Facebook user. Can someone summarize how this could have been prevented?

Turn with your cage down? I think I'm 1 of 2 persons that does use the cage. That being said, I almost never use it while sanding. Although, I sand 500 RPM or less. The other cage user is a friend of mine.

[Thom Sturgill]

Nova generally rates the expansion mode as stronger than compression. That said, the fact that the bowl split would make how it was held immaterial. Rotational speed and internal weakness of the wood are the apparent key factors. Hope he will be OK, that would appear to be a very serious injury with possible brain injury.