Cut it off

[hyvel]

If I reach the rotational centre of the wooden piece with the chissel, the piece will be cut off, what whill happen, whill it fly away and knock me in the head, or will it simply just fall straight down?
I might have the piece fixed between two points, and I might also have the piece fastned on a rotating plate, and what difference does that make?
Sorry for my poor english vocabulary.

[Limey]

Hyvel... Don't worry about your vocabulary..my Scandinavian is non existent..!! :)

I am assuming that you are parting a spindle while it is turning on the lathe...yes?

It won't do anything dramatic if you part it carefully with a parting tool ..a thin pointed chisel taking the wood off slowly with a lathe speed around 1500-1800 rpm. Support the wood by using the fingers of the left hand curled loosely behind the spindle as you make the final cut. You'll feel it fall away and drop into your hand.
However most woods will "twist" off when you are down to the last 2 mm. and you get an ugly stump which can tear out the fibres of the finished piece so it's best to stop when you are close to separation and use a fine saw to finish the cut by hand.. Then the small nub can be cleaned up with a sharp chisel and sandpaper.
It sounds scary but it isn't ...the only time it will twist off is if you get a "catch" or "dig in", which would dislodge the spindle on ANY cut you are making.

[beamerweb]

More echos ... I agree with limey :)

It's generally a good idea not to part through when turning between centers. I think most of us have done so by accident, though. If you're turning between centers and have a little too much thrust on the tailstock, you may get crushing. As you get less and less wood remaining, the tailstock may push a little too hard and crush that remaining wood. The risk here is that the "offcut" piece will be moving toward your chisel and could result in a catch.