The lathe: the wood is the moving part
Every other machine in the shop spins a cutter while the wood holds still. The lathe inverts that: the workpiece itself is the flywheel, spinning at hundreds or thousands of rpm inches from your face — which is why turning's dangers aren't cuts but launches.
Machines and tools vary by brand, model, and age. Your manual outranks this page — read it first.
Hold that inversion in mind and the rules organize themselves. A bandsaw mishap nicks you; a lathe mishap throws a pound of spinning hardwood off its mounting. Everything below is about keeping the blank on the machine, and you out of its exit path.
A faceshield, not just glasses
The shield's partner rule is the firing line: a blank that lets go leaves tangentially — in the plane of rotation, perpendicular to the lathe's axis. Stand out of that plane when you switch on, especially for a fresh mount's first spin, and make guests do the same. Experienced turners step aside at every startup without thinking about it; make it that automatic for yourself too.
Inspect the blank first
The launch usually starts inside the wood. Before mounting, inspect the blank thoroughly: checks and cracks (especially radiating from the pith), bark inclusions, loose knots, punky spalted zones, and — in glued-up blanks — every joint. Rap it and listen; a crack you can't see often buzzes. Centrifugal force will find and open whatever you miss.
Mount solidly: drive faceplate screws that are long enough into sound wood (never into end grain or bark), seat the chuck jaws on a properly sized tenon, and bring the tailstock up for support whenever the work allows it — which is more often than you'd think.
The speed rule
Start every new mount at the lowest reasonable speed, stand aside, switch on, and give it a moment before stepping in and speeding up. The first thirty seconds are when mounting mistakes announce themselves.
The tool rest and the catch
The tool rest is the machine's fulcrum: keep it close to the work (an inch of overhang is leverage the wood uses against you) and never adjust it while anything spins — rotating a rest into a moving blank is a launch with your hand on the lever. Present tools with the bevel rubbing before the edge engages, and take light cuts while learning; a catch — the edge digging in unsupported — is how tools get slammed and blanks get cracked, and light cuts keep the catches small while you learn.
Sanding is still lathe work
The lathe repays all this discipline faster than any machine in the shop — it's the one tool where you watch the shape appear in real time, standing close, unhurried. Sound blank, sane speed, shield down, body out of the firing line — those four are what keep that closeness safe.