Glaser Hitec

[Richard Stapley]

I have contacted Glaser Hitec on 4 occasions in the past month with no reply.

Do you know if they are still in business?

In particular I am after the 3/8’ Bowl Gouge.

Is there an alternative source [Agent/Supplier] for this?

Glaser say they ship worldwide but do not appear to be interested to send to the UK where I live.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Richard

 

[Bill T Tucker]

The closest thing today to the old Glaser comes from Doug Thompson which are primarily V-flute. Some later Glaser gouges and I believe the Glaser Hitec are more parabolic. Lyle Jamieson sells a parabolic flute bowl gouge made for him by Doug Thompson. Either of these sources will yield a bowl gouge that is equal to or better than Glaser Hitec, in my opinion. Both of these people are a joy to work with and will gladly answer questions.

 

[Richard Stapley]

The closest thing today to the old Glaser comes from Doug Thompson which are primarily V-flute. Some later Glaser gouges and I believe the Glaser Hitec are more parabolic. Lyle Jamieson sells a parabolic flute bowl gouge made for him by Doug Thompson. Either of these sources will yield a bowl gouge that is equal to or better than Glaser Hitec, in my opinion. Both of these people are a joy to work with and will gladly answer questions.

Bill thanks for the information and I am interested but using the e-mail address on his web site to contact him I get an unrecognised e-mail address notice, do you have an alternative e-mail address please?

Richard

 

[Bill T Tucker]

Just checked and it worked: https://thompsonlathetools.com/
And for Lyle: https://lylejamieson.com/
good luck

 

[Bill Blasic]

Doug Thompson does not pay attention to email. If you want to talk or ask questions call him. Doug is a woodturner who used Glaser tools. When Glaser sold his company the other guy about doubled his prices which led Doug to look into A11 steel, its properties and heat treating etc. He started making some tools in his garage. That is how Thompson Lathe Tools got started and that was a lucky day for all the rest of the woodturners who now find themselves using the best woodturning tool in the world. Again Call him 440 241-6360.

 

[Brian Gustin]

Doug Thompson does not pay attention to email. If you want to talk or ask questions call him. Doug is a woodturner who used Glaser tools. When Glaser sold his company the other guy about doubled his prices which led Doug to look into A11 steel, its properties and heat treating etc. He started making some tools in his garage. That is how Thompson Lathe Tools got started and that was a lucky day for all the rest of the woodturners who now find themselves using the best woodturning tool in the world. Again Call him 440 241-6360.

Just a side note: Might want to suggest he find some way to offer contact other than by phone, for those of us (I can't be the only deaf turner) that prefer to NOT use a phone - It's cumbersome for the deaf like me to do phone calls, and I will always give my preference to a company that offers alternatives to phone contact *AND* responds to those alternatives in a timely manner. Quite a few companies over the years that otherwise make an excellent product have lost my business for good, since there's always another company out there with comparable quality, and actually does respond to alternative contact methods. For the vast majority of the world, it is really simple to pick up a phone and make a call to solve an issue, but there's still those of us for whom that can be a complex, slow, and confusing task (depending on the abilities of a third party to read, understand, and speak English, can lead to a lot of confusion and misunderstandings when the conversation needs to turn technical, and you have to depend on someone whom likely wouldn't know a lathe if they tripped over one, to understand how to properly spell out and interpret/translate woodturner's jargon between speech and text..) So, I just wanted to note that I could be looking to buy several thousand dollars in turning tools, but if Doug (or other companies) didn't respond to my emails (or submitted contact forms or whatever other options they have), chances are they'd lose out on that business to someone that could accommodate me.. .. Just sayin'

As far as the O.P., I likewise sometimes have been frustrated, because I see something I'd like to get my hands on, but whomever is selling it "over there" won't ship to the USA.. so I know that feeling. Might consider U.K alternatives such as Sorby, or Crown? Myself, I never heard of Glaser tools... I've bought Sorby (via Rockler) and Crown (On amazon) and both tools seemed to be excellent and do exactly the job they were purchased for. (I also have a Thompson Gouge, and got my eye on a couple others as well, but gotta save my pennies a while more yet)

 

[Bill Blasic]

Brian you might try texting him at that number. I get over 100 emails every day and I don't have a business. Can you imagine getting 1000 emails a day with only a small number actually wanting to order? It's easier to take a call for an order plus the fact that you're actually talking to the man who makes them. I appreciate your problem and all I can suggest is texting or getting a hearing impaired phone (I think they are free). At worse start a conversation here with me and I'll find a way to get you in touch with Doug.

 

[Timothy Allen]

You can order online directly from his website -- thompsonlathetools.com -- you don't need to call or e-mail (unless you have a special request or question, I guess...)

 

[Richard Stapley]

I took the advise that Doug's Tools were as good as, if not better than Glaser.

Sent him a message via his facebook page as the e-mail address on his web site is not correct, and got a response within minutes and after sorting out a few details placed an order.

Hour later got USPS message saying item had been collected and was on its way to the UK.

Probably will arrive before Glaser Hitec bother to reply.

Thanks for everyones help and advise.

Richard

 

[Brian Gustin]

Brian you might try texting him at that number. I get over 100 emails every day and I don't have a business. Can you imagine getting 1000 emails a day with only a small number actually wanting to order? It's easier to take a call for an order plus the fact that you're actually talking to the man who makes them. I appreciate your problem and all I can suggest is texting or getting a hearing impaired phone (I think they are free). At worse start a conversation here with me and I'll find a way to get you in touch with Doug.

Been there done that, I used to run online business myself, but I gave up on ever posting my email address on the website, Instead I put in a web based contact form on website contact page instead of email address (and maintained several email addresses, so I always had one address that very few people know, and doesn't get hit with spam) , which made it far more manageable to go through legit contacts (This was before the CAPTCHA was created, so I had a trick question on the form that only a human could easily answer, so robotic form submitters didn't work either)

As far as the phone device (a TTY - the basic one or a Captel phone- which requires 2 phone lines, BTW) I have had em- but the person on the other end must have and know how to use one too.. Then the Relay service was created so TTY users could call an 800 number, and relay (the third party) would dial the number they wanted to call and "translate" between speech and text the whole conversation (including sound effects!) and then they created the IPRelay (done over the internet via real time chat, AOL used to have that built-in to their AOL-IM) But then that was discovered by scammers that took advantage, eventually it got more and more restrictive.. either way, it is time consuming and tedious - a normal 5 minute phone conversation between 2 hearing people becomes a 30 minute marathon (more or less, depending on the relay operator's ability) - because of that, more and more often, company CSR's started just hanging up or faking some sort of connection problem, and getting rid of those calls without any resolution... Then the ADA law was modified to make that illegal (and relay operators started pointing that out if they had to call back) So, these days I only use Relay if I have no other possible choice, and has taken me as much as 2 to 3 hours to finally resolve an issue that for a normal hearing person might have taken 15 minutes. (I have been dealing with overcoming 95% hearing loss for the last 47 years and counting... so I have used a TTY (battery powered cordless machine was the size, thickness and weight of a dictionary) at honest to goodness rotary dial public pay phones..

However, I see Richard mentions he got Doug's facebook page and message, which would be the game-changer (I don't recall if I noticed Doug's facebook page link on his website, but if it is there, I'd probably use that even before email), so it's all good.