Sad woodturning death.

[Wood spinner]

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/nottinghamshire-joiner-dies-absolutely-tragic-8024400

Be extra careful , No shortcuts on safety equipment.

[seventhdevil]

seems rather unlucky for it to kill someone stone dead.

it does sound like he was turning endgrain though if it split into three...

no say if he was a newbie turner or experienced?

[Les Symonds]

....no say if he was a newbie turner or experienced?

He was a self employed joiner using his own lathe in his own workshop, which I guess tells us nothing about his level of skill or experience.

[BrianH]

Like to know if he was using end grain timber in a chuck in expanding mode. How easy it is to tighten such a setup to the point that the wood, when cut away to make the piece, can no longer contain the stresses? High speed and centrifugal force will only add to the accident, which is waiting to happen. Food for though for us all, I think.
Brian

[Bourbon25]

If you read the report. It was a glued up blank of three pieces

[Les Symonds]

If you read the report. It was a glued up blank of three pieces

The report does not say anything about it being glued up...it could have been a big-heavy cross grained bowl being held by a tenon in a chuck with jaws much too small for the bowl's weight, especially if it was timber with cracks in it, or bark inclusions. A bad catch could result in the bowl shattering and the tenon remaining in the chuck. I think that the lesson here is that we cannot make assumptions on the evidence in the report; it's phraseology suggests that the writer has little understanding of the processes involved. This is a shame, because full information about the incident could be used to inform others, but with the scant information in this article, people will simply draw their own (and sometimes wrong) conclusions.

Les

[Bill21]

I agree Les. If we had more information then lessons could be learned from this tragic incident.

[willstewart]

Also agree - more information would help and might even save lives  A job for AWGB?

I have been very cautious (ie slow) turning big pieces like green burrs, I do see that a mask/visor (was he wearing one?) might not be enough.

[Twisted Trees]

Don't think a family's tragedy is an appropriate place for the AWGB to be asking questions, and I doubt that there is sufficient knowledge in the data collectors to provide helpful answers anyway. As this person was a professional woodworker I think we can all understand that it was probably complacency.

Who hasn't turned a lathe on without checking the speed at least once, got a distraction and got a catch that shouldn't of happened. Or done something else that may have led to no problem or been a disaster by difference of part of a second or a few inches.

Be thankful that this is a rare occurrence, but aware that injuries do happen, take precautions, be aware of your position in regard to moving or potential flying things and enjoy creating things from wood.

[seventhdevil]

Don't think a family's tragedy is an appropriate place for the AWGB to be asking questions, and I doubt that there is sufficient knowledge in the data collectors to provide helpful answers anyway. As this person was a professional woodworker I think we can all understand that it was probably complacency.

Who hasn't turned a lathe on without checking the speed at least once, got a distraction and got a catch that shouldn't of happened. Or done something else that may have led to no problem or been a disaster by difference of part of a second or a few inches.

Be thankful that this is a rare occurrence, but aware that injuries do happen, take precautions, be aware of your position in regard to moving or potential flying things and enjoy creating things from wood.

as a 20 year Bench joiner and a 15 year wood turner i can tell you that they have very little in common. i suspect it was more an accident due to lack of knowledge rather than complacency.

[GBF]

I have taught a number of Joiners and to be honest they usually have very little experience of Turning.
Most have just enough knowledge to be dangerous and when they come for Tuition they are surprised how little they know
This is very sad but could give the impression that turning is dangerous and risky when actually it is not when proper precautions are taken.
This is why I always recommend Tuition Tuition Tuition with a good pro

Regards George

[Paul Hannaby]

They always say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing! Accidents of this type but perhaps not so catastrophic are not uncommon so perhaps we should be making sure the inexperienced are aware that turning can be dangerous if the correct precautions are not taken rather than trying to convince them they are not at risk. Information on the correct "drill" could be made available and publicised to spread the word. I know some lathe manufacturers have some safety info in the manuals but how many lathes are out there which were long separated from the manual?

[jay]

  How many people read the safety info that is even packed with button batteries  and plastic bags ?  I think we have become insensitive to it .Many just skip past that to the picture of the on /off switch . A bit of hands on instruction is priceless in my view . Having operated my own joinery shop till retirement I found that hands on instruction worked best for all machinery ,bench saws,spindle molders and lathes. Many times it is the 3 dimensional movements that cannot be adequately shown  in drawings ,words or even video   

[Twisted Trees]

Just making the point that nowhere in the information available does it tell us that the person was not a skilled woodturner. Several posts saying it was inexperience / lack of training are making a huge assumption on no evidence at all.

[Paul Hannaby]

In the nicest possible way, the experience level of the person who died in the accident is somewhat irrelevant because we can't change the past. However, if more people are, as George suggests, encouraged to seek tuition or the hazards and safety precautions are better publicised, we are able to change the future! Or to put it another way, those that know better but choose to take the risk only have themselves to blame but those who didn't know but now do, will be in a position to make the choice!