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Shipping large bowl set

Dean Center

Dean Center

Joined
May 4, 2010
Messages
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Bozeman, MT
I've encountered an unexpected problem. I just finished a cored 3 bowl set for my niece's wedding present, and I have no clue how to ship it across the country safely. Up til now, all the turned pieces I've given to people I just handed to them. (OK, generally boxed and wrapped) In any case, I've got a 14", 11" and 8" bowl to pack up and I keep envisioning a package handler throwing the box and having it land on the edge of the large bowl. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
 
Dean, you can pick up a roll of bubble wrap and wrap each bowl. Then nest, wrap and put in your shipping box. Be sure there is room around the bowls in the box for more bubble wrap.

It will protect and not add shipping weight. But it's a bit pricey. Still, worth it for a gift.
 
The safest method of packing is to double box with about 2" of space on all sides of the small box filled with bubble wrap or even wadded up news paper.
The bowls should nest with bubble wrap between them and fit snugly in the inner box.
When the outside box get a crushed corner or a small puncture, the inside box is rarely compromised so its contents are not damaged.

For Hollow forms I use cardboard tubes for the "inside box". I cut the tubes to size and use disks cut from styrofoam inside the ends of the tube and use a shrink wrap to hold everything together. Sono tubes for concrete forms work well as do various fabric tubes.

A 16" diameter sona tube in a 20" square box would give more than adequate protection for a bowl wrapped in bubble wrap.

Shipping costs are determined by the weight and the girth if the package. Light big boxes cost more to ship than small heavy ones.

Insurance is pretty much a crap shoot. If your package is lost or damaged you have to prove its worth to be compensated.

Will be a great gift.
 
Bubble wrap is great but depends on the finish and other things. We have had the bubbles make an impression on the piece even though the finish has cured for some time. Now we use either paper (blank newspaper stock) first, then bubble wrap, or inexpensive (Walmart) polarfleece throws (2 $ ea.).

Since utility stuff has specific finishes designed to confront forks, spoons, detergent, and water, perhaps bubble wrap is not an issue. Never shipped a utility piece.
 
I agree with the comment about the bubble wrap. Instead of paper as the first wrap, I use old T-shirts. Especially when I pack for shows. I have a ton of them for all of the things I've been involved with and my wife has also picked up some really really cheap at garage sales.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. Steve, if I follow your recommendation, how in the world will I ever get finish on the next bowls??

Steve Doerr said:
I agree with the comment about the bubble wrap. Instead of paper as the first wrap, I use old T-shirts. Especially when I pack for shows. I have a ton of them for all of the things I've been involved with and my wife has also picked up some really really cheap at garage sales.
Click to expand...
 
Shipping materials

My wife spent a little over 20 years as an interior designer. Somehow we wound up on the mail list for a company called U-Line. They have a website, www.uline.com, and they carry all sorts of shipping material, from boxes to peanuts, to bubble wrap, and even have plastic face shields which might serve for turning. I'd thought about sending out a notice before to make people aware of this company, but didn't know if this would be seen as an endorsement of the company. I've never purchased anything from them and can't speak to the value of their products, but just happened to recently grab a catalog and actually look at it, after having received them for the past 10 years or so. Surprised me to see everything that they had that could be applicable to those of us who are turners, but I didn't know how many people did that much shipping, so I hesitated to post about it earlier. I haven't got a clue if their prices are reasonable, outrageously high, or somewhere in between. Just passing this along for your information.
 
Michael Green said:
My wife spent a little over 20 years as an interior designer. Somehow we wound up on the mail list for a company called U-Line. They have a website, www.uline.com, and they carry all sorts of shipping material, from boxes to peanuts, to bubble wrap, and even have plastic face shields which might serve for turning. I'd thought about sending out a notice before to make people aware of this company, but didn't know if this would be seen as an endorsement of the company. I've never purchased anything from them and can't speak to the value of their products, but just happened to recently grab a catalog and actually look at it, after having received them for the past 10 years or so. Surprised me to see everything that they had that could be applicable to those of us who are turners, but I didn't know how many people did that much shipping, so I hesitated to post about it earlier. I haven't got a clue if their prices are reasonable, outrageously high, or somewhere in between. Just passing this along for your information.
Click to expand...

Passing along information about where to find products in response to a question is perfectly fine and very helpful.

BTW, welcome to the forum, Michael.
 
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