Greetings and salutations. This isn't a "how to", but a "how I did it" for making driftwood. A log for making a log.
So about a year ago, when I was first starting to read about aquarium stuff I cut down a tree in my backyard. It wasn't yew or pine or any aromatic wood. I really don't know what it is, but it's pretty hard wood. Hard enough to eat my chainsaw. I wound up using an axe to cut it down. It was hard wood.
Fast forward to present day. A six foot section of the tree, now a log, has seasoned for over a year outside in the elements. Some sections of the bark have fallen off, while others are still pretty well stuck to the trunk. I cut off about a 16 inch section from the top, where all the limbs used to jut out. It's sort of pretty in its own way.
So now, tonight, I decided to get off my lazy butt, strip the bark and do a bleach and leech. Unfortunately, the bark did not come off easily, but required a wood chisel to dig off most of it. It took me the better part of three hours to chisel off the bark from this darn thing. Hopefully this means the wood is super hard and won't start rotting in the immediate future. Either way, with the little sections of darker bark and lighter wood makes it sort of look Mopani-ish.
Once most of the bark was chiseled off I took a wire brush to it and realized it was pretty much futile to brush the remaining bark off. Once everything's said and done the pleco I get should have a bark feast on his hands. A little dust came off and that was about it.
Now that my wood is prepared it's time for the bleaching. NO I DID NOT USE BLEACH! I used about a cup or two of lemon juice in a hot water bath. About 24 hours from now I shall be dumping the lemon water and replacing it with regular hot water to begin the tannin and lemon juice leeching.
(No, it does not sink on its own yet.)
I'll update in a day or three.
Pics of pre-prepared wood included:
Pic 1: Compared to the log it came off of.
Pic 2: Standing on its own, it's too high for my tank, yet fairly pretty.
Pic 3: Compared to a case of water for perspective.
So about a year ago, when I was first starting to read about aquarium stuff I cut down a tree in my backyard. It wasn't yew or pine or any aromatic wood. I really don't know what it is, but it's pretty hard wood. Hard enough to eat my chainsaw. I wound up using an axe to cut it down. It was hard wood.
Fast forward to present day. A six foot section of the tree, now a log, has seasoned for over a year outside in the elements. Some sections of the bark have fallen off, while others are still pretty well stuck to the trunk. I cut off about a 16 inch section from the top, where all the limbs used to jut out. It's sort of pretty in its own way.
So now, tonight, I decided to get off my lazy butt, strip the bark and do a bleach and leech. Unfortunately, the bark did not come off easily, but required a wood chisel to dig off most of it. It took me the better part of three hours to chisel off the bark from this darn thing. Hopefully this means the wood is super hard and won't start rotting in the immediate future. Either way, with the little sections of darker bark and lighter wood makes it sort of look Mopani-ish.
Once most of the bark was chiseled off I took a wire brush to it and realized it was pretty much futile to brush the remaining bark off. Once everything's said and done the pleco I get should have a bark feast on his hands. A little dust came off and that was about it.
Now that my wood is prepared it's time for the bleaching. NO I DID NOT USE BLEACH! I used about a cup or two of lemon juice in a hot water bath. About 24 hours from now I shall be dumping the lemon water and replacing it with regular hot water to begin the tannin and lemon juice leeching.
(No, it does not sink on its own yet.)
I'll update in a day or three.
Pics of pre-prepared wood included:
Pic 1: Compared to the log it came off of.
Pic 2: Standing on its own, it's too high for my tank, yet fairly pretty.
Pic 3: Compared to a case of water for perspective.
