Making "driftwood"?

[lilirish]

My husband was quite productive today and cut a bunch of overgrown branches off of our oak tree.

Is there a way to treat a chunk of this wood for my fishtank?

 

[This Old Spouse]

Debark it and sink it until it quits floating, then pour boiling water over it to kill any nasties. If the wood is nice enough it's worth it to go through the trouble.

 

[mike455555]

dont use pine... i know you said its oak but for future reference .. pine sap is poisonous i think

 

[lilirish]

A lot of it is just large straight chunks, but I still would like to try it even for the experience...

It would be interesting to have a few "stumps" and large "trees" growing out of the water...

I am going to be redoing my goldfish tank this winter, changing from natural looking small rock to black sand (most likely....I am going to be hunting around for different options to see what catches my fancy)

 

[lilirish]

any advice on how to remove the bark?

 

[This Old Spouse]

A really big, really sharp knife. We call them draw blades here, but I'd think a big sharp knife (and lots of caution) would be fine.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

if you only the crappy blades for cutting food just get hand axe from B&Q.

 

[lilirish]

I bought a cheese slicer as recommended by a member on another forum to strip the bark.


I have numerous pieces soaking in our spare bath tub. I drain it and fill it with the hottest water I can get from the shower a couple times a day. Most of the pieces are already sinking to the bottom with just a couple still floating.

Once they are all sinking I am going to strip the bark and let them soak again.

 

[micko]

I would have stripped the bark prior to soaking.

A wood chisel will work fine in stripping it.

 

[lilirish]

Eh, a learning experience at least...another forum advised me to soak it to soften the bark to make it easier to strip.

 

[colleen0309]

I have a stupid question. Do you need to debark it? Why? Just curious. I have some really nice small oak branches. The branches are actually long, about 4feet, but they are really thin. I don't know if I can get all of the bark off, so I haven't used it. It would look so awesome in my tank, but I don't want water quality problems either.

 

[Tolan]

I have a stupid question. Do you need to debark it? Why? Just curious. I have some really nice small oak branches. The branches are actually long, about 4feet, but they are really thin. I don't know if I can get all of the bark off, so I haven't used it. It would look so awesome in my tank, but I don't want water quality problems either.

I think the bark will come off eventually if you put it in the tank. It also helps it get water logged faster.

 

[lilirish]

From what I have read the bark can rot in the tank....all the reading I have found all says to debark the wood

 

[lilirish]

My spare bath tub - - mmmm Tannins! My husband freaked when he saw it - he thought it was staining out tub lol.

and my cheese slicer aka bark stripper

 

[lilirish]

Stripped three of the water logged pieces today....my hands hurt!


Piece number one Before

Piece number one During

Piece number one After

Piece number two Before

Piece number two After

Piece number three Before

Piece number three After

The cheese slicer was putting up a fight, but this became my great tool