Numb Left Hand

Sounds like you are very possibly maintaining a death grip on the tool! Also try shaping the blank more with a chainsaw or bandsaw first. Lowering the speed on the lathe may help. Be sure to stand "tight" to the lathe so your body is also supporting the tool. If you stand away from lathe with your arms (sort of) reaching out, your arms are taking all the stress.

Happy Turning Ruth

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They do sell shock reducing gloves for use with high vibration tools like random orbit sanders etc. I sometimes use one on my left hand when turning dry wood to shield agains the hot shavings. The ones I have don't have full fingers in them which I consider a bit of a safety feature since the palm part is less likely to get caught in rotating bits. Got mine at Lee Valley. Try them if Ruth's suggestions don't help. Billh

Same thing happened to me and the feeling pretty much left after following some of the advice on this group. I had an ache in my upper right back (from gripping the tool too tightly with the right hand), numbness in the thighs (from standing on a concrete floor) and a numbness all along my left hand (I am also rh). I solved them all by

1. Rasing the lathe's spindle to just a bit above the height of my elbow
2. Relaxing the grip somewhat on my lower (right) hand
3. Cut down a whole bunch on using an overhand grip on the tool. The little finger on my left hand was numb after a couple sessions. It was jammed up against the tool rest. I switched grips and the numbness left after 3-5 days
4. Put down several layers of cheap rugs where I stand. Also, I take a break every 30 minutes or so and walk about.

as ever

(clip) The sensation is that of how hands feel after a session with a weedwacker (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^ I think you have a need for the gel-palm gloves. I have heard that repeated and prolonged exposure to this numbing condition can lead permanent damage. All the suggestions for improving lathe technique and posture may help, but your weed whacker and chain saw,etc, will still keep doing the same thing to you. Those gloves are commonly worn by bicyclists, so should be easy to find.

If the tool is against the toolrest where it belongs, left hand holding it down while resting against the back of the rest, it is hard to imagine why any major vibration is being transmitted to that hand. Given a long-handled bowl gouge held in the right hand and braced against the body that hand shouldn't receive much either. Could be that you really are holding it in a death grip. Or that it isn't really firmly against the rest. Or that your left hand has some undetected damage that is pinching the nerves. Or some combination of the above...

Yes to all those questions. Let up on the tool, take lighter cuts, and if the problem persists, check with a chainsaw store for one of the shock absorbing gloves. They also come in fingerless models, which I use for my right hand, which is very much prone to numbness form carpal tunnel syndrome. You can relieve the numbness by taking ibuprofin or aspirin to reduce the swelling and ice packing the wrist area, which is where the problem arises from.

-- Chuck *#:^) chaz3913(AT)yahoo(DOT)com Anti-spam sig: please remove "NO SPAM" from e-mail address to reply. <

September 11, 2001 - Never Forget

In addition to the good advice you have been given I'll weigh in with a couple of additional points I've picked up from helping teach a bowl turning class. This is kind of fresh in my mind since I just helped with one yesterday. I saw each of these problems yesterday.

1. Are your tools sharp ? Dull tools are going to transfer more vibration than sharp ones. Don't be afraid to go to the grinder and sharpen. You can't have a tool too sharp but you can have it too dull.
2. Take lighter cuts, IMHO most people are too agressive and leave a rough surface with lots of sub-surface damage that they have to deal with later. This is especially true in the rim area where you are transitioning from side grain to endgrain to sidegrain to endgrain.
3. How are you rounding the blank ? Start from the base and go up to the rim. If you are starting at the rim to help with balance problems you probably need to spend more time with the chainsaw/bandsaw. Try to establish a point where you can ride the bevel as much as possible.
4. Make sure you are cutting all the way through with each cut. What I mean is don't stop too soon on a cut and leave a large square corner that you have to deal with later. Continue through the cut until the gouge stops cutting.
5. As you move from the foot to the rim of the bowl rotate your gouge to get more of a shearing cut. I see a lot of people that come in at 90 degrees to the bowl cutting at the bottom of the flute of the gouge. The endgrain will cause the tool to vibrate and chatter. A symptom of this is a lot of tearout on the endgrain. If you are doing this try dropping the the handle down next to your body roll it over in the direction you are cutting, and have the gouge angled so that the cutting edge is slightly ahead of the handle.

Scott Hogsten

Thanks for all the responses. Yes the bowl blanks that I have used are very roughly shaped with only a small portion of the wood contacting the tool in 4 small spots. Taking more time to more precisely shape the blanks is now going to be the norm. Also, I think I watched too many videos watching the experts annilate a blank in 3 or 4 heavy swoops. Gotta slow down, lighter cuts and also going to try a padded glove. Gotta lose the overhand death grip and use the finger tip finesse grip. Thanks again for the input.

STEMO

Try a cycling glove with open fingers.

djb

One other thing...

It would help if you could switch hands. Some turners are really one handed (Richard Raffin, for instance) but many have taught themselves to turn both left and right handed. It really comes in handy and would spread the load. I am right handed in most things but not strongly. On the other hand, I turn left handed more naturally and switch to right handed when it would work out better. It seems to me that a number of operations at the lathe work out much more easily left handed.

As an example -- turning very small icicle-type things for Christmas tree ornaments. I hold the tool in the left hand, put my right arm over the tailstock and support the work from the back with my right hand. Even though the tailstock is not touching the work (I'm using a chuck) it helps to steady me.

Bill

Bill

Bill

Or an old golf glove w/ the fingers cut off.

STEMO wrote: ...snip...."Gotta lose the overhand death grip and use the finger tip finesse grip."

******************************** It's not necessarily the overhand grip that's the problem, it's the overhand death grip. With roughing, the overhand is an excellent grip and to condition or teach yourself to loosen up remember the wood is hammering the tool down on the tool rest and the left hand only needs to keep the tool going forward with the cut.

The tool's main stability comes from firmly gripping it with your right hand with the handle pressed to your body. Practice by not gripping the tool with your left hand but rather open your fingers and rest you hand on the tool and guide it into the cut.

There are times I still have to do this when roughing a tough piece and my natural reaction is to choke the tool! (which I believe actually makes the cuts more difficult)

Relax and Enjoy Ruth

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At this time, you may have solved your problem and you have no more numbness. Conversely, if the numbness is persisting a visit to your family physician may be warranted.

Maybe pick up a carpal tunnel splint. Hard to get used to, but now that I've adapted to wearing mine, my hands rarely tingle, and I think I can stave off surgery for a few more years.

(Especially once the boy gets old enough to run the weed whacker. :)