Has anyone who lives near water collected and sold driftwood?
I collected a bunch with my daughter and put it in my antique booth. It's actually selling!
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Has anyone who lives near water collected and sold driftwood?
I collected a bunch with my daughter and put it in my antique booth. It's actually selling!
I guess I count as living by water, since I'm on a sandbar 2 miles out in the Atlantic. ;)
I don't collect driftwood, but it sells like fresh hotcakes here. The tourists an home owners who rent to them buy it all day long. It seems to make a great decoration for their houses. They pull it out of the ocean, an the sound. I never got in to it cause it's more competitive then anything else down here short of fishing an crabbing. To many yahoo's with a boat going out an pulling it in. It's a good money earner tho from what I see. When I do go for it, it's for my own personal use, cause I think it's cool.
It's much easier to find sound side then it is ocean side, lest down here. For some reason the majority of it's plucked out of the sound. Weird, I know.
If you do it, good luck! Charge the tourist, they can afford it. Ha ha!
Sirscrapalot - Loves not depending on tourists for his income.
We use it for smoking our salmon up here. Never thought of trying to sell it to anyone.
you may not get too many tourists to sell toQuote:
Originally Posted by SnowBeast
I think you would be surprised Mech. Bristol Bay is the largest Natural Salmon resource in the world. We get tourists from around the work here. LOTS of fishing lodges here, lots of movie stars too.
I was just going to say..Alaska get's a butt load of tourists. For fishing, hunting, the plain natural beauty. Some day I'll visit. Likely when I'm retired, have the rv, an can take the time to do it right. lol.
Sirscrapalot - Likes Alaska.
Used it once to make a fire on a sand bar to cook clams and oysters waiting on our channel net to fill up. The fire gave off strange colors due to the salt, I assume. Also a quick explanation of a channel net. Its a large funnel shaped net anchored in the channel and as the tide goes out it catches shrimp. Any way a good time was had by all.
More to the point we have a lot of drift wood on the river but I no longer own a boat to pick it up. Also when I worked for a landscaper he would include driftwood in landscape designs. Mike.
Yea, they do that here to Mike, as I'm sure you know. My neighbor up the road has a huge hunk of it in his front yard, I'll have to grab a pic tomorrow when I take the dogs out. Beautiful piece.
Sirscrapalot - The real problem with reality, is there is no music. - Stolen from the internet.
Money for driftwood....amazing. That brings to mind the posting on here a couple of months back where someone poured molten aluminum down ant holes and sold the resulting castings on eBay for like $500.
I guess I should consider putting the stumps I dig outta the back 40 on concrete slabs and selling them. Right now I line them up on the property line to keep the scumbags on the land adjacent to mine from running their quads all over my property. (they cut wire fences) My wife tells me to call it an "Eco-Fence". They should sell like hotcakes.
J.
The ones I see sell, have character, it's not just grabbing a piece of wood out of the water, or sticking a tag on it. lol.
Like Miked said, here they go out in boats all day an pull the suckers in an sell them, to the tourists an home owners. It's a crazy world, but I think we al know people will buy just about anything.
Sirscrapalot - One man's junk is another man's art. - Dunno
you can sell it for like like $15 for a 1foot piece to aquarium people
also i pick up fish tanks, check them for cracked support or glass, then wash them out with bleach and water and sell as is on craigslist
dont use soap, its bad for live animals living in there
Har....I guess my stumps only have character, and driftwood stumps have character.
I know, its an artsy f*rtsy thing, and I'm just an engine-ear.
Jon.
Their not stumps I see sell, unless we're using a different term for stump. lol. More like logs, branches, an pieces. Some a ft, some 3, 4, even 10. lol.
Either way if you can sell it more power to ya, folks buy some odd things, just like you pointed out with that silly ant farm thing. Heh.
Sirscrapalot - Doesn't go fishing for wood.
SSaL,
You're too serious! I'm just pulling your wazoo! Anything that slides into the artsy fartsy world means that logic and common sense falls out the window. So it becomes wide open for all kinds of mirth by people so inclined. Notwithstanding that huge amounts of money change hands for this kinda cra.....er, I mean, art.
Kinda tempted to carry a bucket of molten aluminum around myself....singing "I am an artist, I am an artist....."
J.
In Central PA, we don't have beaches, or much in the way of tourism, however, I visit the local flea market every other weekend with the Ol' Lady, and there is a guy or two who sells nothing but driftwood with store bought solar lights hot glued to them... They are selling for about 60-100 bucks a piece! I've thought about giving it a shot myself as I spend almost all summer hanging out on the creek. Hell, it's in my backyard!
I see someone mentioned fish tank already but I'll second that. I used to work in a small family owned pet store and driftwood is popular for terrariums and reptile tanks. If you get some really cool looking pieces you might be able to sell them to pet stores as well (the smaller ones, not the national chains).
* I also forgot to mention, beware of laws though. In PA, I believe taking driftwood is considered theft of natural resources. Might want to check with State Fish and Game Commissions...
Me to serious...that's a first. ;) An I agree on the artsy fartsy-ies! lol.
I was just making sure you meant stump! Something musta gotten lost in the translation. I blame the Canadian. :p
Sirscrapalot - Oompa Loompas should be mandatory at every job.
He's getting his wazoo pulled,,,,,heheheQuote:
SSaL,
You're too serious! I'm just pulling your wazoo!
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...s-butthead.gif
SSA you should Invent a way to drift it yourself. Man made driftwood you could call it Sir Scrap A lot got wood. You could corner the market on the sandbar.Thats if sandbars have corners.
lol...I don't do boats without bars. ;)
The ones they use are to small.
Sirscrapalot - Landlubber for the most part.
No bar, no boat.
exactly!
Sirscrapalot - There is a method to my madness, usually.
I have done a bit of selling of driftwood myself. Here is a favorite place to sell of mine: Taxidermists.
I have found taxidermists they are a good market for driftwood pieces. They use them for making mounts.
It is fairly easy to hook up with them. Give them a call. They are either interested or not. Many source out thier own stuff. Others are too busy and cant find the time. Many will ask for photos or samples. If they want samples, chances are they are buyers bring them a nice variety they can pick through. You can normally sell a few unique or desirable pieces every time you show up. Many will have a few pieces of various sizes around to show off thier quality of work. By seeing what type of stuff they use, you can try to cater more to their tastes.
You may not get rich selling to them but they do go through a lot of driftwood doing fish mounts for smaller pieces and bigger pieces tend to be used for wildlife mounts. The one piece of driftwood that tends to be higher price is stuff that is bigger diameter (4" or more) and around 3-4 feet long. These bigger pieces are harder to find as many sink and dont make it back to shore. Also if you can find logs, these sell well to as they will cut sections out of them or use them for bigger mounts.
Also, as mentioned above the pet stores. There are two things that make a difference on price with them. Many of the animals need the wood boiled or sprayed with a special chemical made for the type of animal. Untreated driftwood can contaminate and ruin their stock, or possibly sicken their animals.. It is better to spend a little and be able to advertise them being properly treated / cleaned. This will show knowledge and interest, but also that you are probably in it for the long haul and worth their time.
A prime example is reptiles or birds. There are mites and bacteria that can sicken or kill an animal if they are not prepared properly. If you go talk to a shop specializing in birds or reptiles you will find they usually sell the chemicals needed to treat the driftwood. If not, ask them to order it or where you can buy it. Most shops will keep it on hand if they buy driftwood, so can at least show you a container to start you on your search.
The second thing is size and unique pieces. Run of the mill stuff normally will not cut it. Look at the stuff they sell, look at the terrarium sizes and items they sell and plan accordingly. If in doubt ask them to give you ideas on dimensions and shapes.
Ask them to sell it on commission so they don't have to put out cash. This is a major reason that many shops wont touch it. It can be expensive to buy and they are not guaranteed to sell any of it. You take the risk out of them opening a new market by doing this. If it sells well you will find you get calls more frequently to deliver and possibly they will just purchase a set quantity of it from you.
If all else fails, barter. I used to supply one pet shop with driftwood in exchange for pet food and supplies. I used to average about $50-$75 a month on my 3 cats, and my other half's 6' Red Tailed Boa between food, litter / bedding and misc care supplies. It may not be cash in hand but if stops you spending money it is still money you can spend elsewhere. That is same thing as cash in hand to me.