wow, i'm surprised at your comments regarding the Dirty Bird being over priced
The GT G5 is $45 and the DB 1.0 is $42. i'd take a DB any day of the week over a GT. from what i understand, the GT is not handthrown or clay or something. it's a different process and not nearly the quality of true pottery (sorry, my terminology may be way way off). the RB is cheaper, because again it is not a pottery item, it's molded and/or not made in the same process and would not be nearly the same heft and build quality as the DB.
to me the Dirty Bird is the best bang for the buck. proven quality, proven reputation, reputable potter (julie) and price is way below some others, and less then GT.
as for the Bonneyman, yes they are just way out there for pricing, but that's us Canadians for you
bottom line, they will all keep your lather warm, look nice and it's whatever floats your boat and which you like the aesthetics of the most.
Hey my friend,
You're right about the DB. The 1.0 isn't priced too bad. It's middle of the road on pricing, and as you said that's for hand thrown pottery. I think I was stuck on the 1.5 version being $54, which is getting up there again. And when you compare size vs. cost, it's twice the cost Becker charges for the same size. To get that size with Bonneyman, she offers the Texan at $120! Good Lord! So you're right, DB is not the cheapest, but not as overpriced as I made it sound.
But for my budget, the pricing really matters, and there are serious variations here. I'm with you that I won't consider the G5 in that there's something about it's construction thats less appealing, and guys around here don't rate them as high. To me, they look too precision made, which is likely akin to what you said about their construction. Now as far as RB goes, I know he hand makes them, but I'm no potter so I honestly don't know how. I know this from my emails with him, and in the back and forth we shared about what he could do custom with mine. He may construct them as Songwind said, but thats ok by me. I chose hime because they look great, guys around here have nothing but good to say about them, and they are very affordable. That works for me!