Safety cloth/material for buffing

[pops92]

Hi
I am told not to use old tee shirts etc for buffing on the lathe because of the obvious safety issue.
What does everyone use instead of this? Yes probably opening a old can of worms here. Tried a search but no luck.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I use anything that comes my way cut into squares not strips and never wrapped around the fingers.

 

[sunnybob]

The safety issue is if you use an entire T shirt (or most of) and an end comes loose and wraps around the lathe, pulling you in with it. This is not JUST related to a T shirt, it includes any large continuous piece of material.
If you rip the T shirt into squares of (say) a foot, then there is no safety issue.

 

[Chris152]

Look up Chestnut safety cloths.

I tend to use old bits of clean t-shirt etc but cut to smaller pieces (as above) and I fold them into a pad, so no dangly bits, which I then hold without wrapping around fingers.

 

[Sideways]

A thread like this creates an opportunity to pass on some blunt and hard learned advice...

Don't ever be dissmissive or complacent about the risks of sanding and polishing by hand on rotating machinery - lathes, drills, .... We all do it but it is inherently dangerous.

I personally know a machine shop foreman with 50 years experience who had his hand torn off at the wrist in an accident when using emergy cloth on a metalworking lathe (admittedly more powerful than most woodworking lathes).
They took his hand to hospital in a crisp packet.

One day you will get distracted or have a lapse of concentration.
It's when, not if.
So in the spirit of learning from the other guy's misfortune, anytime you feel yourself start to get complacent about this task, remind yourself that people with more skill and more experience than you have lost fingers and worse.
They didn't set out to do it either and it was all their own fault (you are responsible for your own safety, if someone tries to make you work in a dangerous fashion, you walk !)

Use small pieces of cloth. Beware any piece of fibre long enough to wrap round or catch on the lathe or workpiece. Never wrap cloth around your hand or fingers for extra grip.

And do not ever wear gloves when your hands can come into direct contact with moving chucks, tooling, etc. Far better a cut than gloves being caught, pulled in and you lose fingers or a hand.

 

[CHJ]

Hi
I am told not to use old tee shirts etc for buffing on the lathe because of the obvious safety issue.
What does everyone use instead of this? Yes probably opening a old can of worms here. Tried a search but no luck.

First Item in the Health and Safety Notes at the top of the Turning Section Information Notes.

 

[Dalboy]

The link CHJ pointed you to says it all

 

[Lazurus]

I use the cheap blue workshop paper rolls for everything from polishing, applying oil, clearing up and blowing my nose...... Cheap and effective, never has an issue with spoiling finishes or polishes either.

 

[BertD]

A fellow woodturner recently introduced me to using commercial janitorial paper hand towel, the kind found in many commercial buildings. It is primarily used in a center pull style of dispenser. I tried it and found it is superior to anything I have ever used to date. It's great for applying finish, ca, and it also buffs a cured finish to a nice sheen. The down side is it only available in box of six rolls, and a roll will last a long long time in my shop. So far it has outperformed any shop towels used in the past and as it is white does not add any colour to wood.

 

[Robbo3]

Without taking away from anything already said, one professional whilst demonstrating at our club said that if you really must stick your finger inside a piece of wood rotating at high speed ... use the middle one because it's the one that you can most afford to lose.