cutting driftwood

squilky

I bought some Malaysian driftwood and it's a bit too large. What is the best way to cut it? Can I use a saw like I would on a regular piece of wood? Anything special I need to do? Should I soak it first or cut it dry?

bones14

Just make sure the saw blade is clean and cut it dry.Then use a vaccum to remove the saw dust and soak.And try to cut it in spot that can be hidden when you put it the tank so you don't have an unnatural looking clean straight cut showing.

zof

While its risky the more natural look would come from just breaking it apart, the risky part being you will have no idea how it will look or break until you do it and you will have to sand down sharp spots so they don't hurt the fish. You can help control the breaking point by making a small cut probably about 1/4th the diameter of the wood in the spot you want it to break at but that is no guarantee, from there you can sand down that 1/4th cut into something more natural looking.

Then like bones said vacuum and soak.

aunt kymmie

I'm back from a week's worth of vacation. Did you saw the wood yet? Malaysian driftwood is as dense wood as any I've come across. The boyfriend took a chop saw (with a brand new blade) and he said it was some of the toughest wood he's had to cut through. Just my experience...

squilky

No I haven't tried to saw it yet. I did notice there were a couple of spots where there is a gap in the fiber of the wood, so I may try to split a small piece off of there to see how cleanly it breaks. Also as Bones pointed out, I want to see if it looks natural after the split/break. I am putting it in a small 5.5 gallon tank, so I want the piece to be relatively small. Just large enough to provide a bit of a hide and maybe grow some java moss on it.