How to tell pine from other driftwood
- Thread starter rvadog
- Start date
To be honest, I don't worry that much with old weathered driftwood, but if it's dry enough, sand it and:
a) smell it for a pine smell. If none, then even if it is pine, the pine resins have likely been weathered out
b) after sanding check for identifiable hardwood grain patterns like oak, cherry, etc. (or have someone who knows something about wood see if they can identify it)
--If these fail or don't reassure you, might be better to play it safe and not use it.
a) smell it for a pine smell. If none, then even if it is pine, the pine resins have likely been weathered out
b) after sanding check for identifiable hardwood grain patterns like oak, cherry, etc. (or have someone who knows something about wood see if they can identify it)
--If these fail or don't reassure you, might be better to play it safe and not use it.
A possible option (my opinion, so take it for what it's worth) is using carbon for possible traces. I'm not a chemist to speak to the chemistry of the exact compounds in pine wood or the exact efficiency removing them with carbon in an aquarium, but carbon does remove many organic compounds, some similar or related to what's in pine wood. Quaintly enough, when you try and search on carbon removal of terpenes (turpentine related compounds in pine wood) these days, a lot of cannabis related information comes up (like this), but you can find other similar applications of terpene removal by activated carbon.