Tag: Woodturning Face Shield

Make Your Own Plastic or Acrylic Face Shield

How to Make Your Own Face Shield

All woodturners need to wear some sort of face mask or face shield. I was dumb enough to start turning wood without a facemask and thank God I never got hit in the face. But as time went on, watching videos and learning about safety I realized I was gambling with fate because sooner or latter you will experience a piece flying off the lathe and hitting you in the face! I purchased my face shield a couple of years ago but just recently ran into a video on how to make your own woodturning face shield and you know how much I like to make my own woodturning tools!

Face Shield I Use

First I should mention that I use the UVEX by Honeywell Bionic Face Shield with Clear Polycarbonate Visor (S8500)  It cost less than $25, however, at times they are hard to get! We are going through the covid 19 pandemic at the time of this writing and some places in the world will not allow you to buy a face shield. So, we are going to make our our faceshield or facemask.

However the one I use has a replaceable acrylic/plastic shield called the Uvex S8550 Clear Uncoated Replacement Visor, Polycarbonate  that is less than $10. I find that the plastic face shield will get scratched up and splattered by finishes making it difficult for me to see but I have bad eyesight so I try to replace often. They do have an anti-fog and anti-scratch shield replacement ( Uvex by Honeywell S8555 Bionic Shield Replacement Lens, Clear Polycarbonate, Anti-Fog/Hardcoat)

You might be interested in a discussion on how to remove scratches from your woodturning face shield in our facebook woodturning group. Apparently some members have been able to clean, clear and refurbish their faceshields using some of the automotive plastic lense cleaner and restorers.  I haven’t tried any yet but plan to ….check out the FaceShield Post on Woodturning Basics.

Making Your Own Face Shield

So I thought in a time of need, whether you are financially strapped or because of the covid virus and you just can’t get a protective faceshield for woodturning this video will show you how to simply make a woodturning faceshield yourself that will get you by or could last forever!

I thought it was pretty cool way to make your own face shield. You can watch the make your own face shield video and use it as a template to fashion your own. I can think of a few enhancements you might like to make but if you just followed his plan exactly you would have something that would adequately protect your face and head from the next flying bowl 🙂 .


No Wood Turning ….Gets Me Mad!!!

No Wood Turning ….
Gets Me Mad!!!

I don’t know about you, if you turn wood or consider yourself as a woodturner, do you …do you just want to go out and start turning bowls, tool handles, candle sticks, lamps, baseball bats or under the seat “personal protection device”? And if a day goes by and you’re not turning wood…..Do you get angry at yourself for not getting into the shop???

Woodturning Passion?

I do. That is, I get mad if I miss a day of doing some woodturning. I guess it’s my addictive, compulsive personality. When I fall in love with something, I want it all the time. Probably a bad character trait, but maybe it’s the difinition of “passion”!

I’ve become addicted to the hobby of woodturning. I guess you could say I’m addicted to turning wood. I was a little apprehensive at first, you need a lathe, lathe accessories and some turning tools and off you go. Putting everything together took some time and I purchased probably some of the cheapest stuff out there, harbor freight lathe, harbor freight woodturning gouges and a lot of DIY type tools. Not the best but my setup could turn a branch or log and I made a wood bowl!

I was addicted after that first bowl!

Somebody said, “that new woodturners are always so impatient“. That was me. I tried and tried to make my projects look like a piece of art, or just a nice looking bowl. But most didn’t turn out. I watched videos on new tools, new woodturning techniques and I practiced…. and I practiced.

I’m a better woodturner
after I’ve practiced.

But I still need more practice, I love learning new wood turning techniques. I love making your own tools. And I now really enjoy trying out real, professional or high quality wood turning tools like the new Sorby 1/2″ Bowl Gouge.

I was like a kid at Christmas, I just couldn’t wait to try that Sorby Bowl Gouge and when I as I used it, I was just as excited. I also picked up a quart of Food Safe Salad Bowl Finish by General from the new Woodcraft store in Buffalo Grove, IL …..can’t wait to try that out. I have a couple of blanks ready to finish so maybe I’ll be able to finish with my new bowl gouge and try the Salad Bowl Finish …..will keep you posted on how that goes.

general food safe salad bowl finish
Food Safe Salad Bowl Finish By General

I tell you all this because I wanted to share the fact that I really try not to let a day go by without doing some woodturning. Sometimes a week will go by because I’m to sick to go out, but …..I watch videos or read about woodturning.

And….. a whole day has gone by, it’s too late to do anything except to type a few words, to diclose the fact that I did not turn anything today and I was really “disappointed or upset” that I didn’t get to lathe today!

Another Day Gone….No Woodturning!

I actually wrote this yesterday and sadly another day has gone by without any turning due to a bad reaction to some new medicine I was taking …..sometimes, life just sucks! I literally thought I was gonna die, started shaking, hard time breathing, hallucinations, couldn’t walk ….should have woke up my wife but it was 3 am and I wrote her a note in case I didn’t make it through the night. But I did …that’s my life, hope you don’t mind me sharing the good and bad of it ….along with some good woodturning tricks, tips and thoughts!

As they say, there’s always tomorrow (sometimes) 🙂 But I was pretty scared last night so I share this word of God with you Psalm 103:15 “As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.” The older I get the more inevitable it is that life is really short. God says our life is like the grass and flowers of the field, here for a couple of days, weeks….beautiful and healthy and then gone. So are we. Question you need to ask yourself is are you ready?


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