500 Wood Bowls

[Steve Doerr]

I have been looking for a several years to find someone that has this book for sale. Amazon and ebay of course have it but they want you to pay $200+ for new and $100+ for used. Today, I was able to find two places that said they had it for $24.95. Florida Clay Art Co (407-330-1116) and Latigo & Lace (406-562-3665) in Montana. I found both on the web and called FCA because Latigo & Lace don't open until 10AM. Lady at FCA said she had it and she would ship it to me

Just thought I would share this with everyone in case anyone else has been looking to buy this book as well.

Steve

[Al Wasser]

I got a barely used copy off Ebay for $30+ a couple months ago. You just have to keep checking

[Jim Hipp]

I found 2 different books on amazon.com (500 wood bowls and 500 bowls), thought I had found a steal until I realized that the 500 Bowls were clay pottery. Do you suppose the lady at Florida Clay Art is sending you a book on clay bowls?

Jim

[Dan Hintz]

Just an FYI for those who order from FCA... they charged me over $17 to ship it UPS Ground. A book. $17. It would have been cheaper (and faster) if they put it in a UPS $15 document folder and shipped it Express.

I expressed my dissatisfaction in the comments section.

[Thom Sturgill]

Woodturners work is often inspired by clay bowls. Look how many hollow forms model after Native American pottery. The 500 bowls book is well worth having an includes shapes we would call hollow form, if I recall correctly..

[John Keeton]

Just an FYI for those who order from FCA... they charged me over $17 to ship it UPS Ground. A book. $17. It would have been cheaper (and faster) if they put it in a UPS $15 document folder and shipped it Express.

I expressed my dissatisfaction in the comments section.

Just a comment on shipping, and in hope of not reviving comments made in a now closed thread. Having previously owned a retail business, there is so much more involved in shipping an item than just the cost of postage/freight. The item must be pulled from stock, boxed/wrapped, labeled, picked up by the carrier or taken to a shipping point for the carrier, etc. Even if a document folder was used (or box, envelope, etc.), that shipping container must be acquired from somewhere - and that involves time and effort. Time is money to anyone in business. Then there is the cost of acquiring packaging material - tape, peanuts, etc.

As a merchant, I would so much rather someone walk in my store and purchase an item. Not only does that avoid the hassle of shipping, it provides customer contact - something mail order does not do.

I do agree shipping charges should be clearly stated, but it doesn't offend me when a merchant "makes" a reasonable amount above actual shipping cost to cover their time and effort in getting the item to me. It is much preferable than me taking the time and travel costs of searching for the item among the available local sources. That said, I do support local buying if it is feasible. Nowadays, that is a rarity.

Having said all of that, when Steve posted this, I quickly purchased a copy of 500 Wood Bowls from Latigo & Lace, so THANKS Steve!! I did it from their website without waiting for them to open shop. It should arrive Monday, and shipping was a reasonable (cheap!) $6.

[Chip Sutherland]

I agree completely with Thom. Right or wrong book, the clay bowl book has wonderful forms and can be inspirational in our own work. There is a similar book for basketry and I have perused gourd books, too...my late mother was a basketmaker and dabbled in gourd work.

[Jim Underwood]

I think I bought my copy of 500 Wood Bowls from the local Barnes and Noble when the book was on sale. I can't imagine me paying full price for it...

I always shop Amazon for used books now. If the price isn't right, I check back in a month or so... One book I wanted was around $80-150. I waited til I found it for about $45. And then the next week it dropped to about $35. Oh well, at least I didn't buy it at $80.

[Steve Doerr]

John, before I placed the order I wanted to talk to someone to make sure they really had the book. I had ordered a copy about a year ago online from a source that said they had the book and even paid for the shipping. After a month and no book I finally called and they said they had it on back order. Since I knew it was no long in print I cancelled that order and got my money back.

Dan, when I talked to the gal at FCA, she asked how I wanted it shipped UPS or USPS. I told here whichever was cheaper. She thought it would probably be USPS flat rate for about $5.25. Looked at the bill last night and total cost was $30.65. So like John, my shipping was pretty cheap. Now all I have to do is wait.

Thom, you got me thinking about the 500 clay bowl book. We do get a lot of our ideas from bowls and HF that have been thrown with clay. I think Amazon may have this book for a much more reasonable price.

Steve

[Steve Doerr]

Interesting update. I just checked both sources. The Montana source is out and FCA has raised their price to $59.95. I called FCA to check on my order and she said that it went to the post office yesterday, and yes, it was 500 Wood Bowls. She made an interesting comment that all of a sudden she had several orders for the book. So she Googled it and found that her price was low so she raised it.
I guess my posting generated some business for both sites.
Steve

[Dan Cannon]

Well I've never heard of it (shame on me), but all the hype got me to look into it. Looks like an impressive book! Latigo and Lace says they're out, and I couldn't reach FCA. Soooo, I just ordered it from my local library, so at least I'll get a free trial before I decide what I'm willing to pay to own it! Thanks for the tip on what seems to be a great source of inspiration.

Dan

[john snowdon]

Google has a limited online preview of the book here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=Xl0...page&q&f=false

[Dan Hintz]

Update: I received an email from FCA concerning my note about their high shipping charges. They weren't sure why the cart was charging such a high price for shipping such a small item, but they said they'd look into it. They changed the shipping charges to something much more reasonable, about $6, so it all worked out in the end. Good customer service... a company that actually read (and responded) to the "notes" section in their e-cart.

[Chris Fairbanks]

Two sellers on Amazon have it now listed for $50 new with $3.99 shipping. Not cheap but a lot better than $100+ on eBay.

[Dan Hintz]

I think mine still had a price tag on it... $26.95, or something like that.