If you are looking for where to buy driftwood in South Africa, you’ve found at least one driftwood selling place in South Africa, right here. We sell fairly small driftwood pieces of between 5cm and 80cm in length.
Where to buy driftwood in South Africa? Right here!
Before you buy driftwood you should consider a few things:
7 Tips for When You Buy Driftwood
puppy on grass playing with driftwood – BEFORE the driftwood pieces were disinfected in a bleach or chlorine solution – AVOID using chemically bleached or chlorine-bleached driftwood pieces with plants and animals!
Consider why you want to buy driftwood – what are you going to be using it for? If you’re going to be buying driftwood for use with animals or plants you may not want to buy driftwood pieces that have been disinfected in a bleach and water or bleach and chlorine solution. Using these driftwood pieces may be harmful to pets or plants.
2.
If you don’t want to buy driftwood pieces that have been disinfected with bleach or chlorine, then you’ll either need to find driftwood sellers who don’t disinfect the driftwood pieces they sell, or you can try making a special request that the driftwood sellers do not disinfect some pieces, just for you.
3.
If the place you buy driftwood from does not clean or disinfect their driftwood pieces at all, you may want to learn a bit about the basics of cleaning and treating driftwood, so you can do it yourself after your ordered driftwood pieces have arrived at you. It’s a good idea to at least brush off driftwood, rinse it, wash it with soapy water, and rinse it again – then allow the pieces to dry thoroughly for a few days out in the sun.
rusty nail on driftwood
Be aware of any dangers or warnings associated with using or cleaning driftwood, especially if you’re going to be cleaning the driftwood pieces yourself.
5.
When you buy driftwood online from a website, look at the driftwood photos and any information on the pages carefully
– so you don’t miss any information about the sizes of the driftwood pieces, so you can match those sizes up to the sizes you need for a driftwood project you’re thinking of doing.
You don’t want to order the wrong size driftwood pieces – only discovering this after they arrive at you, especially if the driftwood sellers tell you that you order at your own risk and that they offer no refunds.
bleached driftwood drying outdoors in the sun – depending on type of wood and original colour or colours, some driftwood pieces won’t become much paler even after quite a bit of bleaching, chemically or naturally
If a driftwood pieces look good, but you would actually like them lighter in colour, perhaps even almost white, you can do this bleaching yourself once you have those driftwood pieces. You can chemically bleach them by soaking them in a water and bleach solution or in a water and chlorine solution. Using chlorine rather than bleach may help you get a lighter effect. Use cold water. Mixing chlorine with hot water may make nasty fumes that may affect your breathing or chest. Your bleached pieces will lighten even more if you allow the pieces to dry out outdoors in the sun for a few days.
You could also skip the chemical bleaching process entirely if you prefer everything as natural as possible, and simply leave your driftwood pieces outdoors in a well ventilated and sunny spot, to bleach naturally – but it may be a good few days before they are as light in colour as you would like them.
natural driftwood pieces
Natural driftwood pieces may not look as good as you had expected them to, or as nice and shiny and smooth as some driftwood pieces or driftwood items you’ve seen around. Those fancy-looking driftwood pieces or driftwood items have been finished off – perhaps sanded smooth, perhaps polished with furniture oil, perhaps stained with wood stain, or perhaps varnished with wood varnish. Your driftwood pieces may look like that too if you also finish your pieces off nicely.
You may of course prefer your driftwood pieces to look more natural, close to exactly how they were found on a beach – then you’re going to want to buy driftwood from sellers who don’t do any finishing treatment on their driftwood pieces before they sell them – it is often best for both buyer and seller when driftwood sellers don’t do any finishing treatment because had they (done a finishing treatment) driftwood sellers may have used varnish when you would have just liked furniture polish or wood stain to have been used so as not to have the driftwood pieces looking too shiny, and the driftwood sellers lose that potential sale.
© Copyright Teresa Schultz 2014
