# Treating Driftwood



## werdnarolyat (Sep 10, 2016)

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some woodwork advice and after scouring the internet, this forum seems like the place to find it!

I have some driftwood on which i'd like to mount some coat hooks. At the moment I'm trying to work out the best way to treat the wood to improve its strength as it is quite soft/brittle.

Thus far I have soaked it in bleach to kill off any marine life, bugs etc. But not really sure where to go from here.

A friend has suggested watering down some varnish and allowing the wood to soak in the solution overnight before leaving it to dry.

I have also looked at commercially available products e.g. Cuprinol Ultimate Wood Hardener, Cuprinol Wood Preserver. I have no experience with these products so not sure if they're what I'm looking for.

Does anyone have experience working with driftwood? Is it even possible to strengthen it in the way I hope?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Andrew


----------



## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Rather than bleach you would have been better off treating the wood with heat to kill bugs. Bleach wouldn't soak in more than 1/32".

There is really nothing you can do to make the driftwood stronger. You will just have to select some that isn't light as a feather to have the best chance of strength. Products like Cuprinol Ultimate Wood Hardener are intended for small places that are completely rotten to stabilize it enough you can use a filler. It's like if you had a rotten place on the trim of your house you could dig out part of it and treat it and fill the spot with an epoxy or fiberglass filler so you could sand and paint it. If it was a structural need it wouldn't work. 

As far as a finish when you are ready a water based satin polyurethane would be the best to keep it driftwood looking as possible.


----------



## werdnarolyat (Sep 10, 2016)

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the information. I had considered using heat to kill bugs but don't really have anything large enough to contain the piece of wood e.g. an oven or something to boil it in.

Do you think soaking in varnish solution would be of any benefit? Or would that just be similar to the bleach in that it'd only soak in a short distance?

Thanks.


----------



## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

werdnarolyat said:


> Hi Steve,
> 
> Thanks for the information. I had considered using heat to kill bugs but don't really have anything large enough to contain the piece of wood e.g. an oven or something to boil it in.
> 
> ...


Soaking the driftwood in varnish will only seal the surface. If there is bugs in it they will eat their way out. Unless you can see some wood dust around where you are storing the driftwood I doubt if it has any bugs in it.


----------



## werdnarolyat (Sep 10, 2016)

I understand what you mean. Don't see any wood dust so assumed it's OK. 

Thanks again for the advice.


----------



## m.n.j.chell (May 12, 2016)

How much money do you want to spend?
Go to ... www.turntex.com ... and look at their stabilization equipment. I believe he now has larger containers to do bigger pieces of wood. Basically, you can turn your drift wood into pieces of plastic.


----------



## werdnarolyat (Sep 10, 2016)

Hi mikechell,

Thanks for the information. I'm based in Scotland so I think it'd cost too much to send the wood over to the USA!


----------



## m.n.j.chell (May 12, 2016)

Probably ... but that's not what I meant.
You buy the system ... and stabilize your pieces of wood. I do believe he ships world wide ...


----------

