I am more in the 'what is it worth to me' camp. A bowl that would have
taken me an hour eight years ago now takes about 5 minutes, sanding
and finishing time is extra, and at least as much time as turning
takes. I timed myself on turning a green Madrone bowl that was about 8
by 3 inches. That would amount to $24 for a bowl that I would sell for
$30 to $40. When I add in cost of getting the wood (it is never free,
you have to go get it, cut it up, store it, cut it into bowl blanks,
turn it, dry it, sand and finish it), along with the shop costs, and
business costs, the higher price is more in line. You do have to
charge what the market will bear. If you are famous, you can charge
more. I used to up my prices in the big city shows, and drop them at
home. Once on a whim, I left my prices up when I came back home, and
the bowls still sold. If I have to charge sales tax, I mark up the
prices to include tax, but on even dollar marks (I don't want to have
to carry all that change, and figure out the pennies).

As far as only doing it for a hobby, you may not care if you turn a
profit, but your work still has market value, and to sell below that
isn't fair to some one who makes a living doing it. Of course, the
overall quality may figure into it some, and when I first started
selling, my pieces weren't nearly as refined as they are now, in both
form, and finish. I always have some factory rejects that I will sell
for less.

robo hippy

On Jan 9, 2:37*am, "George" wrote:
"tww" wrote in message

...

Richard Raffan's book *'Turning Bowls' has a small section at the back
on selling one's bowls. *In the section he describes a rule of thumb
he uses to calculate how long it takes to make a bowl. *His cost for
his time + current value of raw materials + *something for fixed
costs *= the price he sets.

His rule of thumb for turning time assumes you start with seasoned
wood. The rule says to *multipliy the diameter of the bowl by the
height. *That number is the number of minutes it takes to make a bowl
and is used in calculating how much to charge.
SNIP
Has anyone used Raffan's rule of thumb ?

I do. *Five bucks for the expendables and 25/hr is what I use for my local
market. *Goes to double in the city, triple in a gallery. Probably close to
charging the same per hour as the individual in that market earns. *Fair
enough.

I give the customer a break and batch my tasks, so the hours per bowl are
about two when turned green and re-turned. *Nice wood is sold at a premium
even though it comes at the same cost on the woodpile, which helps offset
the smaller stuff that has to sell for less.