Just posting this as a safety reminder not to get complacent at our lathes.

I got off easy this afternoon when I had a white oak bowl come apart on me unexpectedly. It was actually my wifes bowl and she'd just finished sanding it and needed to wax it (carnauba/bees mix) but she's a little skittish about being up close to things on the lathe while they're spinning too fast so she stopped and asked if I'd wax it for her. No problem dear.

It didn't have any cracks or other visible damage/weakness and had been turned and sanded at a variety of high speeds for most of the morning but I always move out of the line of fire when bringing the speed up on these things. Today I didn't do that when I started and didn't think of it until about halfway thru bringing the speed up at which point I started to move my body to the side. I didn't quite make it before the bowl came apart and took a solid hit to the face.

Unfortunately I didn't have my face shield on since it's too hard to see fine detail thru while applying finish. Fortunately I always wear plastic safety glasses, even under a shield (when I'm wearing it) and those almost certainly saved my eye. The glasses took the brunt of the impact (it broke them in multiple places) right over the center of my eye. I suspect the bruising will be impressive over the next couple days and is a nice solid oval in the exact shape of my glasses. Then some abrasion from where some of the bowl deflected down and scraped across my face. Also a moderate amount of bleeding in my sinus on that side that stopped before long. No concussion thankfully.

Very lucky and very glad that it was me instead of my wife.

The bowl was white oak (air dried 5 years), 3" by 12" (ballpark) and was about 1/2" thick in most places so nice and heavy. Photo taken a few minutes after the fact.