Doghouse said:
Is this normal? am I doing something wrong? What do you do to prevent this?
With fear of being overexposed on this issue as of late, here goes...
It's a common thing, Doghouse. You're not alone by any means.
Yes, you are doing something wrong. However, don't do something even
more wrong by wearing a glove. It's a simple fix to wear a glove but it's also an extremely dangerous one. Hot and sharp chips coming off the tool is bad, yes. But losing that hand into a piece of machinery or wood is just a tad bit worse, eh? This is no idle exageration either. There is
absolutely no good reason to use a glove of any type, style, fingerless, heavy, light, tightfitting, color or smell with the lathe on. Don't use it as a horrible crutch for other problems.
So, what can you do instead? Well, here are a few things to try but always take these as suggestions with safety still in mind.
- Don't use an overhand grip! Are you trying to throttle the tool into submission? If it takes so much force to keep the tool on the toolrest or in position then you're working far too hard. Change your grip to an underhand one or move it back on the tool as far as you can but still remain in control.
- Move the cutting edge around a little and force those chips flying to one side or the other and away from your hand. Many times you can just lower your handle (forcing the tool "up" the piece of wood) and putting the tool into a "shear cutting" position makes those chips shoot down and not up onto your hand.
- Change the bevel of your tool. Yes, this can help sometimes. Of course, the tool still has to do what you want it to do but sometimes a simple bevel angle change will force those chips out of the flute a bit faster and not hit your hand.
- Cut with the side of your gouge (as in a side ground gouge) if that's available to your particular grind and the work you're doing. For example, with a roughing gouge, use those wings of the tool to do the cutting (rolling it on its side) and shoot those shavings, bark, nails, lead slugs, bugs, etc. off to the side.
- There's various kinds of spray-on products for covering blisters, burns, etc. that work well. They're basically a flexible plastic that cover wounds. Spray some on your hand/fingers where the burning occurs and they'll protect your hand. What's the advantage over a glove? If this stuff gets touched by a spinning piece of wood, chuck, faceplate, etc. then it'll simply wear off your hand (not all at once either ... ouch) and not get caught ... pulling your hand into the piece of wood like a glove would do. This stuff is just like a thick patch of skin and acts much like it too. Do NOT use a bandage! Some stick far too well and are just like using a glove.
- Put a "chip breaker" (ala' hand planers) into the flute of your gouge. Chips simply fly up and never get to your hand many times.
- Use a different tool. Use a scraper if appropriate. Use a bigger tool with larger or different flute shape. We often use too small of tools to work with anyway but having a small, shallow flute in these situations can cause the chips/shavings to simply not stay in the flute and come up onto our hands causing this problem. I've noticed that bigger bowl gouges with deeper flutes dont' give me near as many problems with "chip burn" as others. Not always an option but it's still something to think about.
I know many turners that use gloves for one thing or another while the lathe is running. They have tons of reasons (excuses are what I see them as) for using them. At least until they get those gloves caught. I personally know of a few in that group too. They either haven't turned anything since (for obvious reasons) or don't wear a glove anymore.
"Nothing below the elbow" is something my Dad taught me early on when dealing with machinery. I've personally seen my fair share of the results of that simple and basic rule not being followed. It may never happen to you but why take that terrible chance when there are good alternatives?