So how much is that $14,000 piece he sold really worth?
It is worth exactly what someone will pay for it. The issue being raised here is the claim that these pieces are insanely intricately hand carved pieces of art, which they are not. Cool? Yes. Neat laser engravings. Hand carved as claimed? NO.
Edit to add:
Turning some random shape on a lathe is not at all that hard, either. Making 4 legs for a table by hand on a lathe and having them all match exactly? That is a quite bit harder and takes some practice and skill.
Hi Paul, I'm wondering if you can overcome the skill needed using a duplicator? WoodCollector talks a lot about lathes and mentions duplicators in his reddit profile:
http://www.reddit.com/user/thewoodcollectorMost of the experience I have with wood turning is with duplicator lathes. I am talking about old school ones that follow a 2D (hardboard/lexan/aliminum) pattern. Even so, gauging by the turned items I have seen from WC thus far I would say that I have a lot more experience at hand turning than he does. The bongs do look fine, but they are just random shapes. Making a specific technical profile by hand is a whole different story, as you can see in the complete fail of the "pleasure rings" in the wooden dildo. It looks like something a kid would make real quick while the teacher wasn't looking, to be quite honest. I think I still have a little billy club of about that quality I made exactly that way when I was in middle school. So, getting back to the specific question: No, a duplicator lathe would not help to make some random bong shape. It would however help to make 1,000 of them exactly the same profile. I do not see any indications of a duplicator setup on or ever being on that brand neww lathe of OC's, though.