Beachcombing

Come Have A Ball on Grays Harbor’s North Beaches from Moclips to Ocean Shores. January - March 2005

Treasures are waiting to be discovered on the North Beaches of Grays Harbor! Beachcombing has been a long-standing tradition for local residents on Washington beaches, and now here is your chance to join in the merry chase to discover one of the hundreds of glass floats hidden along the coast from Moclips to Ocean Shores. Sponsored by the Washington Coast Chamber of Commerce and the Quinault Beach Casino and Resort, this special event takes looking for buried treasure out of the past and brings it into the future for everyone to enjoy. It's affordable and fun for the whole family. Join hundreds of beachcombers as they race to find one of the unique blown glass floats in wonderful shades of blue and green. For more information contact the Washington Coast Chamber of Commerce at 1-800-286-4552. 42nd Annual Beachcomber's Driftwood Show and 2nd Annual Glass Float Roundup – Grayland, WA. March 19 & 20, 2005

In correlation with the 42nd Annual Beachcomber’s Driftwood show, the 2nd Annual Glass Float Roundup offers beachcombers a unique chance to find some one-of-a-kind treasures. Pick up your glass float-hunting license for a dollar at the Grayland Community Hall starting at 7:30 AM on the 19th. Limit one ball per family please. The glass balls are made by Glass Quest - Mark Ellinger of Stanwood WA. The balls will be signed and numbered. When found they can be brought to the Driftwood Show to receive a Certificate of authenticity, or if found after that weekend the ball will have a number on it to call in order to receive your Certificate in the mail. There will be a drawing on Sunday at about 1:00 PM for $100 for the person who has the lucky numbered glass float. You must be present to win, and you must possess a valid glass float-hunting license. For more information contact the Cranberry Coast Chamber of Commerce 1-800-473-6018.

New to Beachcombing? Learn Everything You Need To Know About Glass Floats!

Who makes them and when were they made?

Glass floats have been used by European and Asian fisheries for well over 80 years, possibly much longer. Although several European countries have used glass floats on occasion, they are much less common than glass floats from the Asian countries, most notably Japan followed by China, and Korea. Also, Japan, China, and possibly Korea still manufacture and use glass floats.

What kinds of glass floats are there?

Glass floats are classified based on several attributes, primarily shape, size, color, markings, and condition.

Shapes

Round. Spherical glass floats are by far the most common. Some round floats are misshapen or squashed, especially the recent machine-manufactured Chinese floats.

Rolling Pin. Rolling pin floats (also called rollers) are the next most common shape. Approximately 5% of all glass floats beachcombed from Pacific Northwest beaches are small rolling pin shaped floats 4-6" in length. Large rolling pin floats are also found, up to 18" in length, but they are relatively rare.

Binary floats. These floats are made from 2 or even 3 spherical floats that have been fused together. The most common example is the "Daiichi" binary float fused from two 7" diameter molded glass floats. Apparently, there have been some "tri-nary" floats (three floats fused together) that were specifically made for import and sale in gift shops, and are not used for fishing.

Cylinder shaped floats. These floats are rare and probably defy classification, as there are many varieties of cylinder shaped floats. Some clearly are unique oddities.

Oddities. This includes floats that appear to have been made from melting the tops of bottles to seal them, doughnut shaped floats, and other odd and unique items, some of which may or may not have actually been used as a fishing float .

Glass floats for science instruments and other purposes: There have been a variety of floats manufactured for purposes other than fishing. The most notable of these are the ones made for floating science instruments. Some of these are made of thick glass as they are intended to be submerged. Corning Glassware has a line of floats that they manufactured for this purpose.

Sizes: Round floats are commonly found in sizes from 2.2" to 15" in diameter (7-48" circumference). Floats outside this range are much less common; the complete range of sizes, measured without nets is about 1.4" to 19" in diameter or 4.5" to 58" in circumference.

Rolling pin floats appear in two very common sizes, and a range of very rare sizes. The common sizes are approximately 4.5" and 5.5" in length. The uncommon sizes start as oversized versions of these small ones, and range all the way up to 18" in length.

Color:

Glass floats come in all colors, from completely clear to completely black (opaque). Most Asian floats range from light blue to light green, with blue-green (or aqua) being the most common color. More rare colors include orange, black, cobalt blue, very dark green, red, and purple.

Manufacturing Technique

Hand blown floats: These are the most common, although more and more larger floats are being manufactured using molds. The distinction is clear; hand blown floats have no seam.

Molded floats. Small molded floats can have a single hemispherical seam (from a two piece mold), or two seams indicating it was made from a three-piece mold. About 10% of small floats were made from a mold. The 3.5" diameter mold float is a very common example of a molded float. This float is made from a hand carved 3-piece wooden mold. Larger molded floats are almost always made from a two-piece mold. A relatively recent introduction that is growing more common is the two-piece molded Chinese floats of 8-13" in diameter, often referred to as "garbage balls" because they always have a heavily indented button seal and are often misshapen.

Markings: Some floats have a manufacturers trademark on them as they were made by a number of countries including Japan, Korea, China, even Russia, and most countries had several different manufacturers. On larger floats this mark is either on the button seal or on a separate seal bearing the mark. On small floats, the mark is usually on the button seal except for the mold float, which has a numeral on the side or on the top. About 20% of all round floats have some type of trademarks. For rolling pin floats the percentage with trademarks is less.

Condition: Considering that most real fishing floats are beachcombed, they have been through quite an adventure: used for fishing, lost at sea for weeks, months, or even decades, beached on sandy, gravel or even rocky beaches, sometimes re-floated to be beached somewhere else, and eventually picked up by a lucky beachcomber. It's no wonder that most glass floats show obvious signs of wear.

Most will have minor signs of marine growth that hasn't been totally removed. It's common for small floats to have some frosting. Frosting occurs when a glass float is beached on course sand or gravel beach and rolled around in the surf. Many smaller glass floats beachcombed from some parts of Alaska have significant frosting. It's very common for the tiny floats to have frosting with a "shadow" of the fishing net visible between frosted areas. Occasionally a float will have significant frosting making the entire float appear white. This is fairly uncommon.

Floats with a significant amount of water inside are a rarity. A few of the small ones may get some condensation inside from minute amounts of water that seeped in while they spent their years at sea. On the small floats, water usually gets inside from small cracks near the button seal.

Do They Still Make Floats?

Yes, they still make and use glass floats. The Japanese don't make nearly as many as they did in the 50's and 60's, but they are still in use. It appears that the Chinese are making quite a few large molded floats, and these have actually become more common in recent years. In general, it appears that glass floats are only a fraction as common as they were 30 years ago. With the population of the coast so much higher and with fewer floats, it's no wonder that it is much harder to find floats these days!