In teaching lapidary and metal work most of the accidents were
thankfuly minor. Lots of ground fingers from learning on
silicon carbide wheels. Had lots of finger cuts from saw blades
sattering with too much force. Had a few get hurt on the
polishing lathe with long hair (luckily we used lower horsepower
motors). A few burns from picking up hot metal with fingers
rather than tongs. a Bad burn when someone picked up a hot
flask. Some minor burns from overloading or splashing metal
when casting. Luckily most things that went wrong caused no
permanent damage. The main problem was people being in a hurry.
Sound familiar? Steve Ramsdell
I hope this never happens to any of you ! Welding or heating any
thing that is galvanized, can be deadly if done in doors and can
cause extreme illness even if done out of doors. The fumes are
very toxic. Charles
O.K. - After reading all of your interresting stories regarding
accidents in the shop, I quit paying attention for a few minutes
and tried to lobotomize myself on my bench pin today, while
reaching under my bench for a dropped jump-ring. Left a nice
little red mark on my forehead- lucky for me no-one saw me do it,
or I would have got to wear the “dunce cap” for the rest of the
day!
Tim Goodwin
Oh, Tim…we’ve ALL worn that particular dunce cap at least
once in our professional lives.
Laura
O.K. I’ll have to come clean too. I’ve been involved in
lapidary only for about 18 months and have had the following …
-
Three times making costume jewelry with 16 guage stainless
steel wire have slipped and pushed it through the ball of a
finger. Now when working with this hostile materal I try to
remember to file the ends blunt after every cut. -
Several scrapes with grinders to no great damage.
-
Looking over the top of my glasses while trimming potch out of
opal with a burr, caught small chunks with my eyeballs - no great
damage. -
Close call - I have quite long hair and was doing some work on
the 220 grit grinding wheel when out of the corner of my eye saw
my hair start to curl up around the 180 grit wheel. I try to
rember to tie it back now whenever a power tool starts up. -
Numerous minor burns - a hot brick or tool is visually
identical to a cold one. -
New years resolution - wear a dust mask.
Rich Balding aka Jerry Mings and/or Justin Witzig
mailto:@Jerry_Mings
http://www.net-quest.com/~wizard/ - Wizard Home Page
http://www.net-quest.com/~wizard/daphne.html - alt.fan.daphnes-corner
FAQ
G’day; Fancy spending the afternoon scraping gold off the wall,
the ceiling the floor, etc? I was at my mate’s workshop when he
had some tiny nuggets of local river gold to make into two
wedding rings for a customer. He melted it OK but the problem
came when he poured the melt into a two-piece rod mould prior to
rolling the rod to size. There must have been some water in the
bottom of the mould for the entire lot shot out past his head.
(luckily I was peering over his other shoulder) 
We never
recovered all that gold, and he had to make up the amount with
18ct from his meagre store. He didn’t tell his customer that
though. Goes to show, don’t it? Cheers,
/\
/ / John Burgess,
/ /
/ //\ @John_Burgess2
/ / \ \
/ (___) \
(_________)Hi all you accident prone out there;;; I think all of us at one
time or another can relate to something really stupid that got us
injured. No one has mentioned the buffer as a source of injury.
I have had numerious cuts when a piece I was working on got
caught in the buffer and yanked it out of my hands, causing a
nasty cut. This usually happens before Christmas when you are
the busiest. When these accidents occur we usually take chances,
like not securing a chain that you are buffing. I think that the
buffer is one of thse most dangerious pieces of equipment we use.
When someone would come into our shop and apply for a job as a
bench jeweler, I would alays look at their hands. If they didn’t
have cuts, scars and etc. they didn’t have much bench time. I
also handed them a diamond paper to show them some stones. You
would be supprised how many of them that claimed to be
experienced in the trade could not figure how to properly fold
them. I have read all the threads about accidents and can only
say, “been there, done that.” Fred
When someone would come into our shop and apply for a job as a bench jeweler, I would alays look at their hands. If they didn't have cuts, scars and etc. they didn't have much bench time. I also handed them a diamond paper to show them some stones. You would be supprised how many of them that claimed to be experienced in the trade could not figure how to properly fold them.
There are accidents and there is inexperience, please don’t
confuse the two. I once saw my college jewelry professor recreate
a neat job one of my classmates did only to have a disaster
happen. Terry