Beachcombing For Exercise, Fun And Profit
Games Guy | July 8, 2010
If you are fortunate enough to live near a coastline with nice beaches, or when you get to vacation in such a spot, you may enjoy beachcombing. Finding interesting and sometimes valuable objects in the sand is a fun activity. Whether done with the idea of finding saleable treasures, or just for the joy of collecting oddities, you will also be getting a good dose of exercise and fresh air.
To maximize your chances of finding plenty of interesting objects, try to tailor your beach visit. If you check to see when the tides are at their low point, you will have more area to search in. You may also be the first to spot something that has just been washed ashore. If you can find a beach less visited by crowds, you will also have less competition for whatever treasures are there. However, do not go anywhere really remote by yourself, for safety reasons. Take a beach-loving friend or two with you.
You will want to take along some supplies and equipment to make your trip more comfortable and productive. Make sure to have some bags or containers to hold the treasures you find. You may want to take some waterproof gloves to wear to protect your hands when digging around in the sand. And speaking of sand, you no doubt will carry a lot of it back to your vehicle, so make sure to have a cordless handheld vacuum with you to clean up any mess. Other supplies might include towels, drinking water, and of course sunscreen. If you are focusing on finding jewelry or other metal objects such as coins, a metal detector might be a good investment. They come in a variety of price levels, and it could pay for itself if you make a lucky find.
If you are fortunate enough to find any beach glass, you may definitely want to pick it up. This is small pieces of glass that have broken off larger objects such as bottles, then tumbled around by the waves and worn by sand until they are smooth and frosted-looking. These are much prized by collectors and people who make jewelry, because they are so unique and can not be duplicated artificially. They are often used in making unusual jewelry items such as necklaces and pendants.
Something else to be on the lookout for when beachcombing is jewelry of all sorts. Sometimes people surfing or swimming may lose items they are wearing in the waves. It is not uncommon to find ladies’ watches or men’s watches, rings, bracelets and earrings washed ashore. If these become buried beneath the sand, a metal detector may be helpful in finding them, but often also they will be in plain sight.
When you return from your beachcombing excursion, the fun begins of inspecting your treasures and perhaps finding something of financial value. First, though, you need to find an area where you can spread them out and work on them. If you have a garage with a work area, that is excellent, or else perhaps a computer workstation desk you are no longer using. These generally have several levels of shelves and storage spaces that are ideal for this purpose.
Now that your treasures are arrayed in your work area, you can polish them up and admire them more fully. Depending on the materials you are working with, you may want to investigate cleaners and solvents for removing grime, tarnish, and so forth. Also nice to have is a set of brushes for getting dirt and sand out of crevices. Old but clean makeup brushes can be good for this purpose. Finally, you can look online at collectibles websites to see if you have something of real value. But whether you sell your treasures or keep them to admire, you have had a fun time collecting them.
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