Long sleeve woodturning jacket

[Dennis McGill]

Since having had rotator cuff surgery on my right and expecting to have it on my left. ( and not being able to reach behind me) I'm wondering why there isn't a long sleeve turning jacket available. This would sure make it easier to get the darn thing off.

 

[Gil Jones]

Smock

There is, look on the Woodcraft website.
Search for smock.

 

[JeffSmith]

Packard's got one, too.

 

[john lucas]

I just went to Goodwill and bought a light weight nylon windbreaker. It sheds the shavings real well and had elastic around the cuffs to keep it out of the lathe.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Maybe a larger size smock would work better for you although the AAW smocks are already oversized by quite a bit. I haven't had surgery so I can't fully relate to your situation, but arthritis in the shoulder does limit my range of motion. So far, I don't have a problem with the smock although I won't even attempt something like a pullover sweater.

 

[billooms]

Long sleves are considered a safety hazard when wood turning (or using any kind of machinery for that matter). The longer sleve can catch on something (like the jaws of a chuck) and pull the person's arm into the machinery.

 

[Bill Weaver]

try looking at Lee Valley. I have one the kids got me for Christmas a few years ago and I love it. The sleeve ends are elastisized like some jackets are and goes back far enough that I believe it to be safe. The collar is Velcro so as to close off at the top to prevent chips or dust getting in your shirt. I have no interest in the company (just saying I like the product).

The above statement sticks in my mind daily, sounds like my High School machine shop teacher. The old Irishman still rewinds in my head.

 

[robo hippy]

Hmm, long sleeves make me sweat, even in the winter. I have heard of using Tyvek painter's suits. If you do have long sleeves, they need to be tight fitting.

robo hippy

 

[Bill Boehme]

Long sleves are considered a safety hazard when wood turning (or using any kind of machinery for that matter). The longer sleve can catch on something (like the jaws of a chuck) and pull the person's arm into the machinery.

Very good point. Just because somebody sells a long sleeved smock doesn't imply that it is safe to use around rotating machinery.

 

[DOCworks]

I get mine from the "The ToolPost" in England. They have high quality smocks with Velcro around the neck and wrists. They are bit high with shipping, but I really like the heavy cotton one for winter and they have a thin one for our FL summers. I can also turn back the cuff on mine so it's about mid forearm. ~$70.00

 

[Sergio Villa]

I never turned with short sleeve. In this period of the year my shop is set at 45 F. I have three coats on me but they are adherent on the arms. No problem whatsoever. I will buy soon the LeeValley one.

 

[Hu Lowery]

a man near me turned in a jacket for twenty years . . .

A man in a machine shop near the one I was working in at the time turned in a jacket or coat for roughly twenty years during the cooler months. He only had a problem once, thousands and thousands of times he turned in long sleeves with no problem. It was a closed coffin funeral.

Hu

 

[Bill Boehme]

A man in a machine shop near the one I was working in at the time turned in a jacket or coat for roughly twenty years during the cooler months. He only had a problem once, thousands and thousands of times he turned in long sleeves with no problem. It was a closed coffin funeral.

Hu

The company that I worked for all of my career had very strict safety rules. One of those rules was that anytime you crossed the yellow line on the manufacturing floor you obeyed all safety rules or else were immediately terminated -- no if's and's or but's. The manufacturing area had lathes and milling machines that ranged from small Clausing manually controlled machines up to massive Cincinnati-Milacron CNC milling machines with hundred foot long beds for milling stringers on large transport aircraft. Nobody was allowed close to those machines if wearing long sleeves, wristwatches, rings, bracelets, earrings, long hair, nose-rings or anything else that could get wrapped around a spindle and the person along with it. The rule wasn't arbitrary -- it was there to prevent any recurrence of industrial accidents that had happened here and at other manufacturing plants.

 

[hockenbery]

The company that I worked for all of my career had very strict safety rules. One of those rules was that anytime you crossed the yellow line on the manufacturing floor you obeyed all safety rules or else were immediately terminated -- no if's and's or but's. The manufacturing area had lathes and milling machines that ranged from small Clausing manually controlled machines up to massive Cincinnati-Milacron CNC milling machines with hundred foot long beds for milling stringers on large transport aircraft. Nobody was allowed close to those machines if wearing long sleeves, wristwatches, rings, bracelets, earrings, long hair, nose-rings or anything else that could get wrapped around a spindle and the person along with it. The rule wasn't arbitrary -- it was there to prevent any recurrence of industrial accidents that had happened here and at other manufacturing plants.

Bill & Hu

Thanks. Chucks and wood will generally just tear skin a bit.

If the jaw of a chuck catches a ring you will easily loose the finger maybe more.
A guy who used to work in the Philly shipyards told me the most dangerous tool is the drill press.
He knew a lot people who were maimed by the harmless drill press when clothing or hair got wrapped around the chuck or bit.

 

[Sergio Villa]

All the best smocks have long sleeves. As long as they are tight at the wrists I believe they are safe. In a land of law suits I never heard of one related to long sleeves smocks.
I turn with the tool in my hands not in my wrists and they are always at least a few inches away from the chuck.

 

[Hu Lowery]

Bill & Hu

Thanks. Chucks and wood will generally just tear skin a bit.

If the jaw of a chuck catches a ring you will easily loose the finger maybe more.
A guy who used to work in the Philly shipyards told me the most dangerous tool is the drill press.
He knew a lot people who were maimed by the harmless drill press when clothing or hair got wrapped around the chuck or bit.

Al,

I was in the next room when someone wrapped their hair in a drill press turning low tens of RPM. He screamed at the top of his lungs for five or ten minutes, seemed a bit overboard for just getting scalped. It did drag his head down to the several inch diameter twist drill and work piece first, luckily the scalp was the major damage. That was around 1970. I thought I was in boot camp the next day with all the white sidewalls!

I have ran more equipment than most being willing to do most anything to earn a dollar when I worked for a living. Drill presses, presses, lathes, mills, huge metal working equipment, heavy equipment of many sorts, can't begin to name all of the things I have operated to earn a living. Considering the equipment, the tools, and the way we use them, the wood lathe is the most dangerous piece of equipment I have ever operated. If we could accurately compare manhours a year, lost time injuries, and deaths I think it would be borne out that the wood lathes, used as we use them, are the most dangerous stationary equipment. Part of the reason is that our practices are fine, been doing it that way for years just like the machinist I first mentioned.

A friend started a small machine shop when he was laid off at almost retirement age and found employment impossible to find. A white collar guy, he likes his hands to look nice. Been working hands on in that machine shop for over a decade with no major damage. The cheap cotton gloves he wears will tear if he needs them to. Often works alone all hours of the day and night and he isn't getting any younger. Maybe he will be lucky. I dread unexpected phone calls from that way. He does work safer than over 90% of the wood turners I have seen in videos that run ten minutes or longer.

Hu

 

[Jim Silva]

Google "Batting Jacket" then refine with "long sleeve" when you find some results.

Basically batting jackets are nylon windbreaker-type jackets, come with or without zippers and most don't have pockets (shavings collectors lol).

Found a Rawlings 3/4 sleeve for $30.00. Great quality (at least equal to my AAW smock), better color and cleans easily.

Jim

 

[Bill Boehme]

Hu, I am pleased that you understand what safety really means. I hate to say it, but a large number of woodturners who I have observed turning at the lathe do not really fully appreciate the risks. Sometimes these people are professional woodturning artists and sometimes their work background is not connected to a manufacturing environment -- or not one where safety is actually a top priority.

If you read the prospectus for any mutual fund you will see a disclaimer statement mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission that reads "past performance is not an indication of future results." The disclaimer is there for a good reason -- it is absolutely true. Most people will see and fully understand the obvious truth in that statement, yet many of those same people will believe that because they have not had an injury from doing something unsafe on the woodturning lathe that "past performance" makes them immune to possible injury in the future. I have had other tell me that they know the risks, but they [words to the effect that they have some magical powers that protects them] or that they are willing to accept the consequences of their unsafe practices. I hate to tell them that they are setting themselves up to be a candidate for a Darwin Award. And, what's worse is that it is those people who are responsible for my insurance rates being as high as they are. In my nearly 70 years, I've never met anybody who still clung to that philosophy after suffering a serious injury as a result of ignoring safety practices.

While I can believe that there exists some small businesses such as a one-man machine shop might not give safety practices adequate consideration, that most definitely is not the way that large manufacturing businesses operate. While a cynic might say that the motivation is money, that would be motivation enough, but my experience says that it is much more than that. It bothers me that the AAW isn't often seen on the leading edge when it comes to promoting safety practices as if not wanting to offend the Darwin Candidates. Things are better now than when I joined in 2005, but often it seems from being pushed rather than leading the effort to educate our members understanding of safety practices. By publishing safety articles in American Woodturner, I think that Betty Scarpino has done more in the last few years as editor to help raise the awareness of safety than all of the effort prior to that.

 

[hockenbery]

Safety has been more at the forefront recently.
The AAW has all demonstrators adhere to a safety agreement as part of their contract.
David Lancaster and Al Stirt articles got a lot of attention about 10 years ago.

I agree the AAW can and should do more. It has always been addressing safety to some extent.
When I joined they mailed every new member a lathe safety guidelines.

Al

 

[Hu Lowery]

Bill and Al

Bill,

The "I'm different because . . ." attitude makes me crazy! Largely prevalent among teens and seemingly woodturners of all ages.

When I just employed three to six people there were still strict safety rules imposed. Part of it was money, over a thousand a month insurance was nothing to sneeze at in the early eighties and I didn't want a surcharge on top of that, the main thing was safety meant something. In a couple decades pushing crews of up to fifty men the first accident needing more than a bandaid happened to the superintendent, blew his back out. Retrained, tried again, damaged the back worse in a fender bender that he barely felt the bump when someone hit him. Retrained again, never really returned to work.

That is why I first retired before I was forty. That last training was some of the finest computer network training in the world, I was a MasterCNE and desperately wanted to return to work. CNE's were naming their own six figure salary package in the nineties, Master CNE's were so rare that they weren't even advertised for. Less than 2000 in the world. I can't conform to any schedule or work on demand so I work for far less than minimum wage. Even the jobs for the disabled demand you work on a schedule. Guess who those annoying phone bank callers phoning nights and weekends are?


Al,

The culture is improving slightly, Betty will be sorely missed in her position! I don't mind so much that one particular wood turner or another doesn't work safely. What I find incredibly annoying is a culture of ignoring safety that is near universal until a particular turner suffers a major accident at the lathe. I suppose one of the most annoying things about it is that I might as well put a tin pail on my head and grab a broomstick to go tilting at windmills as even talk about this.

I passed over this thread three times without posting. Somebody needs to speak up to tell the average new turner that these practices are dangerous. Unfortunately the new turners will see that the majority of turners aren't concerned so these practices can't be that dangerous, can they? Uugh! Forgot what I had used that pail for last. Life on the farm.

Hu

 

[Jerry Hall]

Long sleeves not so bad for me. Only lost a week of turning once.

Once in 8 years not so bad. And I still have my arm! Be sure to wear an old easily ripped sweatshirt so that it tears off after your left arm is wrapped around the chuck at 800rpm and 2HP. Then maybe you will recover in just a few days. Rip stop nylon is perhaps not as good. I thinks playing the odds is a pretty good bet. You will be lucky I am sure.

This is the first and last time I will tell this story. One of those things that happened faster than light, and was just so embarrassing. I guess I am the only turner that has been that stupid. I make sure my students use good judgement, and now usually follow my own advice when they are gone. But I just love those Rbt. Sorby red jackets with knit wrists and puffy sleeve ends. So far so good. I have learned to turn with my left fingers crossed.

Jerry Hall

 

[hockenbery]

This forum is not the best place to find safe practices extolled.
The main AAW site is a better source as well as symposiums and chapters.

The AAW Has a number of active initiatives on safety.
1. Chapter by laws identify safety as a chapter responsibility.
2. Wood turning fundamentals has a emphasis on safety
3. The AAW symposium requires shields for the lathes and face shields for turners since 2012
4. Most chapters now have a safety officer and a short talk on safety each meeting
5. Chapters are beginning to require face shields in demos and are putting shields on their lathes
Regional symposiums owned by these chapters will undoubtedly follow.
6. The AAW is selling a four set series of books aimed at beginning turners. One is devoted to safety
7. Almost all of the better demonstrators spend some time on safety in their demonstrations.


The AAW safety guidelines:
http://www.woodturner.org/?page=Safety&hhSearchTerms=""Safety+guidelines""

 

[Bill Boehme]

Once in 8 years not so bad. And I still have my arm! Be sure to wear an old easily ripped sweatshirt so that it tears off after your left arm is wrapped around the chuck at 800rpm and 2HP. Then maybe you will recover in just a few days. Rip stop nylon is perhaps not as good. I thinks playing the odds is a pretty good bet. You will be lucky I am sure.

So, what you are saying ... is that unlike Vegas ... odds are that you won't lose your shirt ... most of the time.

Thanks for the story.

 

[Sergio Villa]

There is active and passive safety. I believe, like many, that tight smocks are safe. I may be wrong but to demonstrate otherwise i need data on accidents involving tight long sleeve smocks, not episodes of generic similarity. This is how science generally progresses.
So to be on the subject, I like to point that one of the main passive safety features is how a lathe is built. A good system for stopping it in a natural instinctive way and from every position of the turner is of paramount importance in my mind. A push switch is better than nothing but a stop bar is much but much better and possibly other system not in use yet could even be better such as a decibel/voice switch. Accidents can happen and will happen even with short sleeves, may be because cold fingers do not react very well or for other reasons, but being able of stopping a lathe in a natural way, with the leg or the knee or the voice is something we should be talking about but is always ignored.

 

[Dean Center]

turning cold safely

Sergio,
I also have a cold place in which to turn. My solution is an outfit featuring a stocking cap (it fits under my adjustable face shield, but not under my airstream), Carhartt style insulated bib overalls (not the long sleeved coveralls), and a sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off to short sleeve T-shirt length. The hat is the key to staying warm. The overalls are way oversized and have zippers at the cuffs so they go on easily over whatever regular clothes I'm wearing. 40-45 degrees is very feasible with this attire, and I still won't get my sleeve caught in a chuck.

Every week I nag our high school turning club members about long sleeves, but I'm swimming upstream. At the last session, the 2 other old farts who help with the club were gathered together at a lathe, roughing the outside of a bowl with a spindle roughing gouge.

Turning is typically based on personal, experiential learning, and every turner has developed his own preferred way of accomplishing common tasks. It's unfortunate, but the majority of turners will probably have to have an accident or an adverse event of some sort before adding safety to their repertoire of idiosyncracies. Youngsters are more impressionable and responsive to modelling the behavior of their mentors, so it's crucial that those of us who teach demonstrate safe behavior. End of sermon, we will now take up the collection.

 

[russ stanton]

One aspect not yet discussed is how to handle allergic reaction to woods being turned. Some woods produce skin reactions and a snug long sleeve smock protects against that skin contact, limiting it to just the hands.

 

[Bill Boehme]

One aspect not yet discussed is how to handle allergic reaction to woods being turned. Some woods produce skin reactions and a snug long sleeve smock protects against that skin contact, limiting it to just the hands.

One long time member of my club says that he can't turn cocobolo because it give him a severe skin reaction. I have found that tight fitting cuffs are a perfect way to exacerbate any skin irritation. Unless you use duct tape (alas, another source of irritation) to seal the cuffs, dust and small particles will work their way under the cuff. Once particles get under the cuff the snug fit ensures that you get the full benefit of irritants in the wood.

The obvious answer is to not turn wood that causes an allergic reaction. Repeated exposure to certain potential irritant woods can lead to contact dermatitis. Continued exposure makes the reaction worse each time one is exposed.

 

[Dean Center]

One long time member of my club says that he can't turn cocobolo because it give him a severe skin reaction. I have found that tight fitting cuffs are a perfect way to exacerbate any skin irritation. Unless you use duct tape (alas, another source of irritation) to seal the cuffs, dust and small particles will work their way under the cuff. Once particles get under the cuff the snug fit ensures that you get the full benefit of irritants in the wood.

The obvious answer is to not turn wood that causes an allergic reaction. Repeated exposure to certain potential irritant woods can lead to contact dermatitis. Continued exposure makes the reaction worse each time one is exposed.

I believe there are also some barrier lotions that might help. "Silicone Glove" is one brand that might work.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I believe there are also some barrier lotions that might help. "Silicone Glove" is one brand that might work.

Yes, there are. The assembly line workers who put the sealant in "wet" wings on aircraft used these kinds of "lotions" to prevent contact dermatitis. Trouble with these "lotions" is that they weren't much of an improvement over getting the sealant on their hands and arms. The sealant was sort of like Permatex Form-A-Gasket and the lotion was a thick sticky and gummy mess that was all but impossible to wash off. When I was in the traing program for new engineers, we spent a few weeks working in various areas of manufacturing to become acquainted with the real world of manufacturing.

 

[Kevin Miller]

What about using something like these? I've used them playing golf and they keep the arms remarkably warm in chili air and I would suspect they'd offer protection from any allergic type reactions from wood shavings.

The ones I used fit very tight on my arms and definitely had no loose cuff. They can be positioned higher up on that arm as well.

I'm not saying I want to use them, but it might offer some type of alternative for those worried about allergic reactions at least without jeopardizing safety like a long sleeve smock would.

http://www.amazon.com/Sleeves-Compr...r_1_4?s=cycling&ie=UTF8&qid=1395205135&sr=1-4

 

[John Torchick]

I have to agree with some others....long sleeves can be dangerous around any machinery.

 

[Bill Boehme]

In this part of the country, the idea of long sleeves doesn't appear on my radar. I'm thinking about a smock with shorter or no sleeves and more ventilation -- wood dust and sweat don't go well together -- maybe a big fan behind me and Putin style shirtless turning.

 

[Clavyam]

Smocks

The Lee Valley smocks have very small zips that I found difficult to use so I returned it.

Ray

 

[Larry Mercier]

Sleeves are definitely a controversial safety topic. Additionally, jewelry is another safety issue. Anything loose and dangling seems to be a no brainer. But wedding rings are obvious on many demonstrators hands. Our club president makes us very aware of safety. Regarding wearing wedding rings he said: "The lathe doesn't care if you're married or not." I think that is common sense well spoken.
Have fun. Stay safe.
Larry

 

[Breck Whitworth]

Since having had rotator cuff surgery on my right and expecting to have it on my left. ( and not being able to reach behind me) I'm wondering why there isn't a long sleeve turning jacket available. This would sure make it easier to get the darn thing off.

I got mine from Lee valley light weight but long sleeves. It is great for sloppy green turning

 

[Tom Lucas]

I like that nylon apron. Might have to get one of those. In cooler weather I use a lightweight welders jacket. Good for 3 seasons, but it's too warm for summer time. Most times I am always wearing my canvas apron, but it doesn't protect from chips down your shirt. Mock turtle necks are OK too. Using an air compressor on yourself will help keep the wifey happy.

 

[Bill Blasic]

If anybody needs a smock I would suggest you look at https://www.timberbits.com I have bought a few from them and at $29.50 and even though it comes from Australia the total was far less than purchasing here. My only add is to order 1 size larger than you would here.

 

[Dave Fritz]

Like John I found a pull over nylon windbreaker in a Goodwill Store. In the winter I wear it over warmer clothes. It has long sleeves with elastic at the wrists and neck. I too have terrible shoulders and find a pull over is much easier than reaching around my body. I also put the battery for my 3M air stream in my front pocket since putting the belt around my body is painful. Long sleeves or short you shouldn't reach across your lathe and always practice good safety habits. I grew up in a farming community and too many young men were caught in power takeoffs and had other farm related accidents. Several died. I hope I learned a lesson from their experience.

 

[Doug Freeman]

In the winter I use a long sleeve jacket. There is a veteran’s used clothing store where I look through donated jackets. I use slick nylon type (shavings slide right off), no hood, stand up collar that zips all the way up. These usually have elastic cuffs, which I push up my fore arm to keep material away from spinning things. My summer turning jacket is one of these with a very light lining, that I cut the sleeves off up hi, and cut the back out of it. Both are very cheap, help vets, and work great. The dont look great but No one says anything when I do public club demos with one on.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Since I posted in this thread a long time ago I got the Timberbits smock as Bill Blassic points to. Love it as chips do not stick and has soft stretch Velcro collar. Note the zipper is backwards as Australia’s origins are British.