Well what can I say but that I’m stupid sometimes. I was going to turn this 12”x8” blank into a hollow form. It had a bark incursion running through it that I thought only went about a third deep. Though it would look real good! First mistake was that I was a little tired. It was around 5:30 and I had already roughed out a large blank and was going to quit but though I would mount this blank and rough it out a little to see what it was going to look like. I mounted a faceplate to it and brought up the tail stock and started roughing. I had it at the slowest speed and all went well. I got it rounded and balanced and was working on the shape when I decided to kick the speed up a little. What I didn’t realize was that I had cut away most of what was holding the two sides together as I kicked up the speed the blank split apart into two 7 to 8 pound chunks one of which went straight up and busted a hole in the 3/8” plywood on the ceiling. The other tried to shoot out the front of the lathe and hit the tool rest breaking the banjo but it slowing it down enough that I was able to duck and get my hand up as the 8 pound chuck of hard maple flew toward my face.I caught it with the heal of my left hand and deflected it away from me. You say did I have a faceshield on, NO, I haven’t been wearing one because I didn’t like them getting in the way and they were hot and dusty. I did have safety glasses on. Will I wear a face shield from now on, YES. I wasn’t hurt except for a bruise on my hand but it looks like I won’t be turning until I get a new banjo!
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I will order a new banjo tomorrow.
Originally Posted by Carole Valentine
I had just run down to the shop to take pictures after getting cleaned up. I usually do wear shoes, well at least on Sundays!
I'm getting into the photo thing a bit more these days, and I would like to say that's a nice shot of your ceiling, it's a wonder it missed the light fixture.
