Red1313

Ok so I know that you should NEVER put softwood into an aquarium... but I'm kinda confused about the difference between the two. I mean, is a Hardwood ANY deciduous tree that loses it's leaves in the fall? So things like willows would be a hardwood?

The reason I'm asking is that tonight I had an epiphany... driftwood just means weathered wood... not necessarily wood that's been floating around in water for the last 6 years... and if that is true with all the flooding etc that we've had lately there are a lot of dead and or dying trees around my yard... and I thought today that they would make some excellent driftwood...

Butterfly

From what I understand soft woods are evergreen trees, bear cones, have needles, or have scale like leaves. These include pines, spruces, firs and cedars. all of these trees have sap/resin that is impossible to boil or soak out. I ruined a pan trying to boil a piece of cedar before i knew better. Never did get all the sap out. several years later it still smells like cedar.
Hardwoods are trees with flat broad leaves such as Oak, hickory, ash, birch to name a few. Their sap is not aromatic and the wood will dry out.
Just a few things I found out after boiling that beautiful piece of cedar LOL
Carol

Red1313

hehe thanks butterfly.
Here's an example of the wood I found. Sorry for the bad pic's taken with my laptop camera.

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	IMG000027.jpg (37.5 KB, 125 views)

Butterfly

uummm I like that! Smell of it. What does it smell like? Cut a tiny spot- what color is the wood under the first layer?
Carol

Red1313

smells like it was floating in a slough lol (about the same smell as when you pull out a piece that's been in the aquarium for a few months)
the woods the same color all the way though.

Butterfly

Sounds good to me A good boiling should do it for preparation.
If it had an aromatic smell(like cedar) I would be concerned. Some of the soft woods will weather on the out side but when you cut it will still be fresh looking inside. For example Cedar is still pink inside.
carol