Wood turning tools

[Don Nicholas]

Does anyone have any experience with Harrison Specialties?
their website is harrisonspecialties.com
they have all sorts of hollowing items and some excellent videos on their products
thanks

[Mark Greenbaum]

I have their Golf Club hollower. Basically a 5/8" diameter rod with grip tape, and a carbide cutter on the end. It's a cutter, not a scraper, and can be very aggressive and dangerous if not used carefully. The cutter is not sharpenable. I use it occasionally, and probably will use the cutter style for a DIY Elbo or Gizmo system. His hollowing system looks like the Elbo, and is priced lower, I believe.

[Brice Rogers]

I have a set of the Harrison tools that I was given from a good friend who passed. The tools are high quality and feel good to use. But they are just carbide scrapers so they have their limitations.

I had written to Kerry Harrison regarding a video comparing the Griz G0733 to a Jet and he was gracious and personally replied.

So my experience with Harrison Tools is very good.

BTW, Harrison has a new tool and a new Youtube video. It is a carbide tipped 1/8" wide parting tool. From the video, it looks like it works very well. I hadn't seen a carbide tipped parting tool before.

[Jeramie Johnson]

I have his tailstock live chuck. Works great and invaluable when reverse chucking.

[Dane Riley]

I have a set of the Harrison tools that I was given from a good friend who passed. The tools are high quality and feel good to use. But they are just carbide scrapers so they have their limitations.

Mark claimed they were cutters, not scrapers. Which set do you have?

[Brice Rogers]

Dane, I have the set of 4 or 5 Harrison scrapers. Square, round, square detailer (rotated 45 degrees). They all are fine. But they are all scrapers. I think that there is only one carbide insert that could be considered to be a cutter. It is round, small, and has a positive rake. I do not have the Harrison version of the positive rake cutter.

I have a non-Harrison carbide cutter. It is about 0.35" dia and needs to be used at an angle or otherwise it is too aggressive. I use it, but have not found it to be profound or a "go to" tool. My HSS bowl gouge is probably my "go to" tool.

But the original post was asking about the Harrison tools. I think that they are good and I think that the company provides a good value for the $.

I use carbide but I also use HSS. Each have a purpose. But each can do a few things better than the other. So - - I use both.

[Mark Greenbaum]

The cutter on my golf club is a cutter not a scraper. It's a truncated cone (base up), with a groove all the way around . Like I stated, it can be very aggressive. If the handle was hexagonal rod instead of round, I think it would be a more manageable tool. I think in a fixed, articulated arm type tool it will be fine. It will hog material in a big hurry. I mostly use it for getting close to shape, then I use my bowl gouges to finesse the shape, and get a better finish.

[Robert Willing]

I have the Harrison hollower which I bought with the shear cutter scraper, the laser, and the goose neck, and I bought his large round scraper. You can use his tools for anything. I like to use his tools to hog out the wood than finish with conventional tools for a fine finish. I really like his tools even though SMC members like the more robust hollower made by other manufactures. It is all in what your expectations are and your preference is, but for me you can't go wrong with his tools. Bottom line your customers do not care what you use because they only see the end product they don't ask who, or what did you use.

[Dok Yager]

Dan I have a full set of Harrison turning tools. They were the second set I bought and still use a lot. They are good tools with only one drawback they "can" become flattened out and widened on the bottom from long use in very hard woods. That being said I like them and use them all the time. The best deal on good quality replacement carbides I have found is AZ Carbide. Very nice gentleman and reasonable.

http://azcarbide.com/

[Joe Shanaphy]

I have the Harrison Simple Hollowing System and like it quite a bit. I have used it with both their cutter and scrapers and find it easy to set up and use, especially if (like me) you don't hollow too aggressively. The laser depth gauge is another story however ... mine stopped working a couple of months after purchase for no reason and despite sending two e-mails and a couple of calls to the company, no joy.