Driftwood question

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Yeah deff can't boil it, they are large. But I am going to power wash them then sit them in hot hot water and water log them as they float currently.
 
Yeah just find a bathtub in ur house that u dont use and fill it with hot water. Thats what i did to cure my driftwood
 
I would play it safe and use something like a large plastic trash can and soak in bleach diluted water for a couple of days. Then soak in clean water with plenty of dechlorinator, such as Prime or Safe, for a few more days. The dechlorinator will neutralize ALL the bleach. This last part is super important because soaking in plain water will not remove all bleach residue which can be disastrous.....even with a week's worth of soaking.
 
Bacteria can live in temps up to 248F for 30 minutes, so hot water is not a surefire method to kill them unless you are able to keep the wood in boiling water for let's say an hour. Scalding water (140-150 F) would not harm even ones that we are sickened by when eating. (The bacteria we worry about in food can be killed at 160-165F, but those are specific types.)

And bacteria live in sea water so salt dissolved in water is not by itself a disinfectant. Again salt works on some types of bacteria under certain circumstances (like in our mouth or on dried beef), but it's not a general anti bacterial product. Salt in large amounts may work, but then again it might not.

Vinegar works, but more effective (and less smelly) is hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is also technically called a bleach, although it's not the one people think of when they use that term.

However, the easiest and cheapest one is plain,100% bleach that you buy at the store. Just rinse off the wood afterwards and then submerge the wood in a basin or tub of water with a triple dose of dechorinator to neutralize the bleach.
 
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