Driftwood Won't Sink

[BKyler]

I've been soaking a piece of wood for three weeks in a laundry tub with a brick on top of it and it still won't sink. Any suggestions?

 

[Andy Sager]

I've been soaking a piece of wood for three weeks in a laundry tub with a brick on top of it and it still won't sink. Any suggestions?

Some woods may take months to get waterlogged enough to sink while others can take days. It's just a time thing, not a type thing. Other options are: 1) getting a piece of slate or other heavy stone and attach the wood to that with a stainless steel screw to weigh the wood down. 2) If you see areas where bubbles are coming up from the wood, you can try drilling small holes into the wood to open the pocket to the water. 3) You can try boiling the wood to help expedite the release of any air inside the wood.
Other than that, you are just going to have to wait it out.

 

[BKyler]

Boiled it for three hours and going to put it back in laundry tub with a brick on it. Still won't sink. No bubbles coming up from the wood.

 

[Andy Sager]

Boiled it for three hours and going to put it back in laundry tub with a brick on it. Still won't sink. No bubbles coming up from the wood.

Sounds like it's just going to be a time thing or you are going to have to attach a weight to the bottom. Unfortunately wood has a mind of it's own. Some will sink quickly and some take a long time to sink. There's just no telling what you have when it's out of the tank at purchase.

 

[BKyler]

Sounds like it's just going to be a time thing or you are going to have to attach a weight to the bottom. Unfortunately wood has a mind of it's own. Some will sink quickly and some take a long time to sink. There's just no telling what you have when it's out of the tank at purchase.

Would drilling some holes in it make it sink quicker?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Would drilling some holes in it make it sink quicker?

It will if you are drilling into trapped air pockets.

 

[Andy Sager]

Would drilling some holes in it make it sink quicker?

As Aiken said, if you aren't seeing small bubbles to know where the air pocket(s) are, it would be just pot luck if that would make it happen. Wood is just a crazy material. Some of sinks fast and some of it doesn't.

 

[BKyler]

As Aiken said, if you aren't seeing small bubbles to know where the air pocket(s) are, it would be just pot luck if that would make it happen. Wood is just a crazy material. Some of sinks fast and some of it doesn't.

I don't see any bubbles.

 

[Andy Sager]

I don't see any bubbles.

So that means that the air probably is not in large pockets but in the " veins" of the wood so drilling will most likely only make the wood look like swiss cheese.

 

[BKyler]

So that means that the air probably is not in large pockets but in the " veins" of the wood so drilling will most likely only make the wood look like swiss cheese.

This is what the piece of wood looks like.

 

[Andy Sager]

Nice piece of wood but the air could be anywhere in there. I wouldn't turn it into swiss cheese. Wood just naturally floats until it gets waterlogged. That's the nature of wood.