The most popular piece of clothing for woodturners is the smock. This will give a good cover of the upper body and has velcro straps to tighten the cuffs and collar. Pockets on the smock are located at the back as this prevents shaving from falling into them (almost).

Goggles and Shields

Goggles or a face shield is going to protect your eyes from those flying shaving or pieces of loose bark. The face shield would be the better option when roughing out, this is probably the time when the chunk of wood on the lathe decides to take off without warning.

Hair

Ensure that if you have long hair to tie it up or get it under a cap. Nobody wants to get their hair caught in a lathe spinning at 2500rpm.

Mask

We all know that sanding wood produces lots of dust but this dust can be extremelly harmful to us when we breath it in. Some people can feel the effects of dust almost immediately but others will not notice it until many years later when they have continual chest infections and breathlessness. Wearing a mask everytime you sand and turn wood will prevent you from discomfort later in life.


On the market these days are face shields that incorporate a filter which cleans the air being pumped through via a small battery pack. One such device is Airshield made by Trend.

Gloves

Some of the more exotic woods can irritate the skin so rubber gloves would be useful at this time. Always wear gloves when colouring or staining your wood, they are not all irritants but stained hands are very unsightly.