Pete, I agree with your thoughts on being willing to pay more for quality, but my personal experiences with OXO have not convinced me that they are that much more durable. I worked in casual dining kitchens for almost 30 years, so I do like nice kitchen tools and have paid more for some useful items. I guess what I am saying is that I always felt that with OXO, I was paying for the name and not increased quality. It always takes up room on shelving at Bed Bah and Beyond type big box stores that I feel rely more on volume than quality. In the end though, I think the way you re-purposed it makes it worth while, anything to make bottling day easier is worth $$$ to me as a fellow bottler.