Sea Shell Shop, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

Although buoys have long been used by lobster fishermen in lobster fishing areas along the entire East Coast, the wooden buoys used by the Maine coast lobsterman have a unique and storied past. Buoys are the visible brands of range. Cutting or stealing a lobster buoy in Maine is considered worse than cow rustling. Bullets have been fired in anger and boats of unknown buoy rustlers have settled slowly to the bottom of the sea under a no-telling starry northern smile from the heavens. The Maine law that governs the pilfering of buoys isamong the strictest, but if there is one souvenir each Maine tourist covets, it's a lobster buoy. Today wood lobster buoys are used sparingly due to the damage they cause to boats' props and the use of modern materials, such as plastic, is a commonplace. The wooden buoy is truly a rarity but they are still carved using an ancient jig built around 1920. This 1920's jig built by a Maine lobsterman was purchased years later specifically for the production of buoys for nostalgic use as well as for use by lobstermen. Just as in days gone by, our buoys are hand painted and branded with our license number as required. All the paint used is non-toxic and protective coating is applied so that the buoy may be displayed outside without fear of destroying the work of our Maine artists

Approx. 19.5" Long

Varied Colors

"My Buoy is Cracked" - Buoys that have checked (cracked) is a common concern of store owners and the retail customer alike. Please let me assure you that this is not a problem in as much as the checking does not get any worse with the passing of time. Finding a buoy that has not checked is virtually impossible and I would estimate that 98% of our buoys are found to have this condition. Checking is a result of the drying process of wood and occurs as the heart wood, or center of the tree, expands and contracts as the tree dies after being cut and its bark removed. Our buoys were made from tree length round North White Cedar. In other words, the buoy is just slightly smaller than the diameter of the tree from which it was cut. The fact that the buoy was made from round tree stock means that each piece contains the center of the tree or the heart wood as opposed to products that are made from larger trees and the heart wood and checking process are eliminated by cutting. Once the heart wood has completely dried and the checking process stops, no further cracking occurs. However, each piece of buoy wood is left with at least one or more visual harmless cracks.