Found driftwood

[Fishyzwim]

Hi everyone hope yall are having a great holiday season! I have a question about some driftwood. My dad went fishing about a month ago in freshwater and found this awesome looking log like piece of wood and brought it to me for my aquariums. I started off by setting it out to dry but now am realizing I'm going to die of old age before this thing dries. I have a super sized ginormous pot i can boil it in. I have no idea what kind of wood it is. It's definitely not a super soft wood but has a slight give when pushed in with nail. Can i just boil this thing for a while and put it in the tank? Thanks for any feedback!

 

[Uberhoust]

I would be concerned with anything you can push your nail into, assuming a finger nail, suggests rotting at the surface layer. That said if you don't dry it you will need to somehow sterilize it and that might cause as much issue as drying it. Boiling will work to reduce the chance of contamination with a foreign organism. Some people don't like boiling suggesting it softens the wood. I normally dry my wood. Do you know the species of wood. I find the most driftwood dries pretty quick, often less than a month, if stored inside. If it is good for use in the tank then the pitch and oils need to either have been leached out or off gassed, and these components also increase the drying time. Final question how long and what diameter is the driftwood? my experience is with 6" diameter 48" length type pieces begin the largest I have used in the tank. If it is not drying out it could have advanced decay as well. I know you haven't suggested it but do not bleach the wood.