Beachcombing finds and what you use them for

Beachcombing is one of my top ten all time favorite things to do. Proximity to the coast factored into choosing where to settle down. I also made sure to check prevailing currents and wind directions that bring all those treasures to the beach.

This thread is for sharing the cool things you've found beachcombing and how you are reusing them.

Setting on a shelf and admiring counts as a use. I will never have enough seaglass or seashells!

To start with, I found a bunch of these things and immediately my mind went to snake trap entrance.

If you know what these are actually used for, please let me know!

I'll try them as snake trap entrances and maybe fish traps or maybe tree guards for small seedlings.

I lived near the ocean as a teenager and I used to take my dog to the beach in the afternoons and look for sea glass. I made quite a bit of spending cash wire wrapping sea glass in sterling silver wire.  I sold the earrings and pendants to a local gift shop and though word of mouth.  I still have some of that sea glass.

There's a driftwood beach not too far from here where it's legal to take anything less than 4' long.  I filled up my vehicle with eight or nine bags last time I was in the area.  I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with it, but I really like this Christmas tree idea for some of it:

i too like beach combing

i pick up all sorts of stuff including garbage

i have a jar of glass, one full of porcelain and one full of fishing lures :)
i kept a few floats from fishing nets when i was on lake superior


i find fossils here mostly as  the local rock is sedimentary but the glaciers placed many other rock types on our beaches as well
this one is some kind of coral colony i would guess



on the topic of safety... when i was out in nova scotia.. i wandered out in the bay of fundy looking for rocks following an outgoing tide... at night
and managed to scare myself like i havent been scared in a long time!
it is not to be underestimated or taken lightly


those look like netted pots for hydroponics growing
hydroton balls likely were in the net and the roots would be sprayed with a water and fertilizer solution

finding garbage sucks
i have found garbage including hospital waste and syringes on some of the most "remote" beaches on lake ontario
it floats along the surface and ends up everywhere

check out these forums for local resources on fossils and minerals to be found in youre locality

thefossilforum.com

mindat.org

searching for: mindat and the name of a local beach or nearby locality will be easier than navigating the site

check this out too

https://macrostrat.org/map

Amy those black things kind of look like fish or crab trap funnels

Amy, they're EEL traps.  Eel traps for sale

Eels creep me out.

Thank you, Bruce and Julie!

There are a lot of freshwater eels in the rivers here, so it makes sense to find a good number of trap parts washed down the river and back onto the beach.

I posted the trap entrance over on the "what is it game" thread also, and it was found to be an eel trap over there too.
permies.com/t/760/90251/ungarbage/game-Post-unknown-objects-ID#1162047

Thankyou for your help!

M. Phelps, hydroponic pots is a good idea for reusing them, thanks!

It's night here so this image isn't going to get the point across but one time I was beachcombing (as a casual amateur) and I came across a strand of shells.  My spider sense started tingling and I looked closer.  They were brilliant purples and pinks and oranges. I've gotten plenty of shells over the years that looked good but when I got home they were a grayish blue dull mess.  But I just knew these were different.  I've had them in my bathroom-that-will-soon-be-cleaned for almost 20 years and they're still brilliant.