Sort of depressing isn't it.

[John Shuk]

Check out this site. It is pretty neat to see how they make the stuff but it kind of depressing when you see how much this stuff sells for when you think of how much work goes into a hand made bowl or any of these other items.

http://www.bowlmill.com/

[Kurt Aebi]

John,

They pretty much do a boat load of bowls at a time and they are nice, but they have a mass-production mindset (albeit using vintage machinery and techniques) and they use extremely inexpensive extremely readily available local woods for these bowls. Plus, they are marketing to the tourists mainly - who would rather go to Pier One than a craft show to get a fine hand-crafted bowl, so they really have to keep the prices low enough to entice the tourist people. This is why the Weston Bowl Mill (much much closer to my home in North Springfield, VT) went by the wayside and closed down - couldn't get the production costs low enough to compete. My hat is off the the guys up there in Granville for being able to keep their manufacturing costs down while keeping with the vintage machinery they use in order to stay in business.

But then again, John - take a look at the Maple Syrup Prices if you want to see big earnings.

Now you'll notice they don't worry too much about how figured the wood is, whether they use a burl or crotch and they do really look plain to one of us serious woodworker feller's , but it is not US who they are marketing to.

[John Shuk]

I guess on one hand if it turns people on to the joy of using wooden utensils and such in the kitchen then that is a good thing. Maybe people will be willing to buy the more interesting bowls individuals turn. I can't say I fault them for making a buck. It is probably a nice way to do it.

[thomas prevost]

Here in the Adirondacks similar to Vt. many of my friends parents worked in bowl, wooden utensil, ice cream spoons and broom stick factories. It fed their families.

These tools are utilitarian, not works of art. These are the ones seen on your table at a restaurant or your everyday salad bowl, places where one would not want to use a work of art. They are two different markets here and do not seem to compete with each other.

[Keith Christopher]

Doesn't make me sad much like I'm sure matchbox isn't worried about the toy cars in the dollar store. :)