Lucky boy!

[babylon355]

I consider myself one very lucky boy after a mishap in the workshop yesterday.
Last week I took delivery of a quantity of green oak pieces, 400mm x 150 x 150 for a project and started turning them into their finished forms. I was a bit apprehensive about turning such a large quantity, 800 all together, so looked into something that would give me more protection than a paper dust mask and a pair of safety glasses.
I settled on a 3M Versaflo system and duly ordered it but they couldn't get it posted to me until Monday, yesterday. I also started bidding on a nice Jet lathe on eBay that Axminster were selling that had a cage type guard fitted to it as I liked the idea of having something between me and such a heavy work piece.
However....
Yesterday I was happily turning away when all of a sudden, the next thing I knew I was being taken to hospital by a friend who works in the unit next to mine.
The piece of oak below, weighing in at 13.75 lbs, had split and come out of the lathe hitting me flush on the face. Needless to say it knocked me clean out and resulted in 12 stitches to my lip, 6 internal and 6 external, a whopper of a black eye and lots of facial grazing.
Despite this, I realise I was incredibly lucky. It could have been a lot worse.
I considered the danger and was in the process of taking the necessary steps to deal with it and, with hindsight, yes I should have waited until I was in possession of them. However, deadline pressures got the better of me and this is the result.

 

[Nippychippy]

Very lucky glad to hear you ok and on the mend we all learn from our mistakes I am sure you won't do that again

 

[babylon355]

It just split on me unexpectedly. I can't remember seeing a dangerous crack in the piece when I mounted it but clearly it wasn't stable enough to turn.

 

[woodfarmer]

I have had a few bits of oak split unexpectedly and in unexpected ways. Fortunately very small just a couple of inches nothing like the monster you were turning.

Any accident you can walk away from is a learning experience. I hope you heal quickly and dont get any more hidden shakes.

 

[Waka]

I know you came away with a few stitches, but looking at the size of oak you are a very lucky man. Hope you recover quickly.

 

[KimG]

That piece of wood has visible ring shakes, which is why it flew in bits, always check for ring shakes in timber, even sound looking wood can have them. A hard lesson for sure, I hope you feel better soon!

 

[TrimTheKing]

Wow lucky indeed! That staining on the side of it isn't your claret is it...?

Cheers
Mark

 

[Graham Orm]

Yeowch, that's a big lump to get a whack in the face from. Get well soon mate.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Curiosity's got the better of me. Have you cut them down to octagonal? For 800 pieces, I'd think it worth making up a sled timewise. Hope you're OK, btw.
3,200 bits of firewood instead of chippings, as well.

 

[Tazmaniandevil]

Oooh err.... missus! That's a close shave indeed. Could have been a killer that one.

Wishing you a speedy recovery

 

[Dalboy]

Hope you recover soon. Just a simple question has this now caused the job to grind to a halt and was it longer than if you had waited for the equipment to arrive

 

[CHJ]

Hope the rest of the stock is not from the same trees, Some interesting info. on ring shakes in Oak.

 

[babylon355]

Thanks for all the good wishes. It wasn't posted by an inexperienced kid with little working background, I'm a time served machinist and have been since the late 80's. I posted it to remind everyone how easily these things can happen. I had been discarding pieces I thought were unsuitable due to shakes but the integrity of this piece seemed ok, clearly I was wrong with that evaluation.
It looks worse in the picture than it was at the time, this is due to it having been left in an five with a number of computers running 24/7 in the unit next to mine - they were the ones who thankfully came to my rescue - so it has dried out quite quickly resulting in clear shake lines, these weren't visible when I began machining it.
I was up against it due to a bereavement at the wood mill I use which resulted in me losing a month due to no wood to work. Yes I could have perhaps waited a couple more days, the helmet still hasn't arrived as of now, but deadlines dictate the pieces need to be on the shelves in a few weeks so time was a luxury I couldn't afford. Fortunately, and I realise I was incredibly fortunate, I only lost one day so that can be made up in the short space of time I have left to finish the job but that doesn't mean I will be rushing.
I know you cannot afford to take liberties but as a professional woodworker you are always pushing bondaries to maximise production, I think that goes for anyone who is working for themselves.
Anyway, lesson learned for me and hopefully it will act as a reminder to everyone else to be careful, you may not be so lucky as me next time

 

[babylon355]

And yes, it is my claret!

 

[Paul.J]

Glad you came out ok after this accident :shock:
I had some Sweet Chestnut given to me back in January but only got round to processing it the other week and noticed the ring shakes in most of it and teh alarm bells started ringing.
I knew i had read ages ago about ring shakes and not to use any logs for turning if they had ring shakes in,so most of the SC got put in the scrap pile but after reading this thread i'm glad i managed to remember what i had read.
Might be worth checking the rest of the Oak you have before turning it if the splits are not visible as in this piece.Hold the block in yiour hand and tap the blocks with an hammer and listen for any different noises of split wood not the usual dull noise from solid wood.
Take care.

 

[gregmcateer]

Yowser!

Glad you are OK - salutory lesson for us all. Thanks for sharing.

 

[leisurefix]

Thank you for sharing, I hope that you are fully recovered soon.
I have noticed over the years that green oak does seem to have a tendency to shear, is this something to do with the medullary rays, as the shear surface generally seems to have a lot of medullary rays visible. I have not noticed this with seasoned oak, which seems as tough as nails.
Andy

 

[Baldhead]

I'm not a turner so I rarely visit this section of the forum, I'm pleased you took the timeout to post this, all too often I think we all cut corners putting time restraints above our own safety, me included! As I say I'm unfamiliar with turner so this may be a stupid question, would the mask you ordered have saving you from your injuries, or would it just softened the blow?

Stew
Edit - I'm pleased your ok(ish)

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Thank you for sharing, I hope that you are fully recovered soon.
I have noticed over the years that green oak does seem to have a tendency to shear, is this something to do with the medullary rays, as the shear surface generally seems to have a lot of medullary rays visible. I have not noticed this with seasoned oak, which seems as tough as nails.
Andy

I agree as I too have observed this. Unsure if its the medullary rays. One thing oak is famous for in the world of bodgers of course is roofing shingles. Just last year I bought a froe and whenever I get straight grained oak rounds I make a few shingles for future projects and it does cut VERY easily. Same for kindling when filling the firewood bucket. It always shocks me how one little tap with a small hand axe will often sheer straight through an 8 inch round. They sometimes come away as if you're sheering through a laminated slate. Very brittle. It's so counter intuitive when its the mighty British Oak we're talking about.

So I guess one with an existing shake is a ticking time bomb. A salutary lesson that whenever we're turning oak should always recall. I

I'm as guilty as the next man for avoiding wearing the appropriate gear, too hot, too cold, steams up, uncomfortable etc etc there are a million excuses but two things I try to stick to personally are as follows:

1/ When the timber is heavy and out of balance I start with a slow speed and only wind it up when its in balance
2/ I make a point of wearing my face shield until its in balance and has withstood a minute or two at the higher speed.

But I do generally take off the face pack and switch to glasses after that because I cant bear turning with that whopping great thing on my face.

I've probably had 4 fly offs in my time so far which were all relatively small and all missed me luckily. Every one was oak.

 

[CHJ]

....
I'm as guilty as the next man for avoiding wearing the appropriate gear, too hot, too cold, steams up, uncomfortable etc etc there are a million excuses but two things I try to stick to personally are as follows:

1/ When the timber is heavy and out of balance I start with a slow speed and only wind it up when its in balance
2/ I make a point of wearing my face shield until its in balance and has withstood a minute or two at the higher speed.

But I do generally take off the face pack and switch to glasses after that because I cant bear turning with that whopping great thing on my face.

I've probably had 4 fly offs in my time so far which were all relatively small and all missed me luckily. Every one was oak.

Bob, please have another read of this link from the Safety sticky, is it really worth the risk?

The Bowl that bit back johnny's mishap & referenced Canadian Tragedy 15-07-09 and death of Joan Kelly May, 2011