[TheForge] Tim Ryan

[Andrew Vida]

On 7/3/2011 6:03 AM, dann at wctatel.net wrote:

> Working long hours, working fatigued  with power equipment has its own
> hazards.   I think that many  of us know first hand how something, can
> quickly ... go horribly wrong.

An old gf's father got his hand mangled up in a lathe just this way. 
Tired from over work and in a split second...

One day at his shop, his nephew and I were on our respective lathes. 
Costin was wearing a denim apron.  The 16" chuck somehow managed to 
take hold of it just as I was looking at him in conversation.  It turned 
the apron into a halter top in perhaps less than 1/100th of a second. 
He was utterly paralyzed and I had to shut the lathe down, all the while 
with a great sense of the willies.  Had that apron not torn so perfectly 
across the chest, cleanly as if by newly sharpened shears, my young 
friend would have been instantly and mortally consumed by that large, 
strong, and hopelessly brainless machine.

I have had things go wrong on the lathe, mill, grinder, wire wheel, etc. 
  Around '98, just before Christmas, I was alone in Marshall's shop and 
the wire wheel got me.  Long spiral cut to the bone on the right index 
finger, 270* and about 1.5 inches long - cut the artery.  It happened so 
fast there was no perception of the event - it seemed instantaneous. 
Went to the ER and got myself stitched up.  To this day I feel the scar 
every time I move my finger.

Be careful, it goes way bad so very suddenly.