Wine Corks

[Barnacle Bob]

I've accumulated hundreds of wine corks and I hate to throw them away... for some reason I keep thinking there must be a use for them.

Do they have any nautical applications or value?

Would welcome any suggestions and ideas.

[Dan McCosh]

You ought to be able to knit yourself a life jacket or two.

[hikingchrs]

I have seen people make cork boards out of old corks.
Chris

[John Blazy]

One guy filled his seat cavities with them for floatation, instead of foam. There's a pic somewhere here.

[lagspiller]

Apart from the urge to suggest any number of other cavities, I would suggest using them in wine bottles.

[ 11-23-2004, 02:13 PM: Message edited by: lagspiller ]

[DerekW]

String a few on a short lanyard to make a floating keychain. Repeat as required. Start drinking Rum.

cheers
Derek

[dan-marques]

build a nice wine cork bulletin board. something like

http://www.wineenthusiast.com/weimages/products/thumbnails/P140B.jpg

http://www.wineenthusiast.com/shopping/prod_detail/main.asp?productID=140&uid=FF7782D5-B1D9-4C15-918C-4FC29593EDA2&Promo =

[Donn]

What a great idea! Make it smaller and it's a hot-pot rest for the kitchen counter. Smaller yet, and it's a coaster for a frosty mug of root beer or a hot cup of tea.

Unfortunately, most of my wine corks are champagne corks.

Fortunately, they work great for fishing floats, lure bodies, net floats, etc..

[Stan Derelian]

Maybe the CPES fumes are getting to me, but I seem to remember reading somewhere, sometime, about someone who made a boat/raft out of 500,000 corks.

Google it.

[Bob Cleek]

Burnt cork makes great makeup for pirate reenactments... arrrrrggghh!

They are also an excellent female birth control device. Just hold them between the knees... all the time.

They are also useful for "Hansel and Gretel" navigation in the fog. You throw them overboard like breadcrumbs one at a time on the way out and then follow the trail of corks back home.

[Donn]

How are ya, Cleek?

[dan-marques]

Yeah, there is a book called "Cork Boat" about a guy who built a boat out of wine corks and traveled down the Douro river the width of Portugal.

That took a bit more corks than the board did. A board like that might make a nice holiday present.

[Stan Derelian]

OK smart asses. Here is the link:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/09/0919_020919_corkboat.html

Less than the 500K I thought, but still a formidable number...

[Ed Burnett]

Wine corks are perhaps the standard means of plugging the holes in the topsides where beaching leg bolts pass through.

I guess legs aren't that common on US boats though, and unless you dry out a lot you only need a couple or perhaps four per year. Sounds like you have a few years worth at least.

On one memorable race in a boat that had better remain nameless, only one cork was available and had to be transferred from side to side as we went up the beat. On another occasion (and another boat), no corks were to be found on board however a couple of prunes were pressed into service and performed admirably.

[Dan McCosh]

I actually have a wine cork plugging the outlet of an old scupper drain no longer in use. That's one.

[cirrus]

I saw once a curtain made of many wine corks on a cord and several cords next to each other. This curtain was at a french window to keep the flies out of the house. At least an idea using more than a few corks.

cirrus

[Mike Field]

.
Or if you want to pretend you're an Aussie --

http://www.sillyjokes.co.uk/images/dress-up/acc/hats/australian.jpg

(And no, this is not me. What's more, no real Aussie would be seen dead in one of these anywayy.)
.

[PVanderwaart]

You put them back in the bottle in order to seal the model ship inside.

[Paul Reagan]

The MAINE DISCOVERY MUSEUM 74 Main St Bangor, ME 04473 is a childrens museum that does great things for kids all over Maine. They have frequently requested donations of wine corks to be used in children's projects. I think they'd love to get them!

[NormMessinger]

Originally posted by Donn:
How are ya, Cleek?I think he's given us a clue. LOL (as Cleek wuld say)

[Barnacle Bob]

Great ideas to get the mind working... By the way... does cork dry rot? I'd like to use it for flotation, but not if it rots away.

[Todd Van Gordon]

I was in a restaurant this past summer and was intrigued by someone's cork artwork on the wall. Hundreds of corks were glued on end, right up against one another. The whole "sculpture" was about 2ft.x 3ft.

[ 11-27-2004, 09:27 PM: Message edited by: Todd Van Gordon ]