Actually fastest way to waterlog it is leave cut ends above water and dry so air has easy path out of wood via its capillaries. Once you completely wet woods outside only way air can get out is by osmosis through the wood fiber. Completely submerging wood is worst way you can do it.

 

I find what to do with wood will often depend on the person and what level of patience they have! I don't wait as it may take months when I can sink it pretty easy. From there it can be a matter of what I have handy. If I have a masonry bit, I go for a chunk of tile, drill it and screw it to the bottom of the wood to make it stand the way I want as well as stay down. If I'm somewhere without the tools, i often just put a rock on one end to keep it down.
Nothing wrong with leaving it sticking up, even though that part may tend to mold but there is also nothing wrong with doing the quicker methods to get it done today instead of months from now. Dealer's choice?

 

Dealer's choice indeed.

Or, if you're me, you just use a bucket with a lid (to keep soap out) on it that you have to step around in the shower. Works best if you have your own shower so your significant other/parents/roommates won't go bananas.

 

Isn't that at risk of getting soap in it?

 

Ahhh- somehow I missed that one line. Embarassing what I say when I read stuff while I'm tired sometimes.

 

Use a razor and run it along the length of the wood a few times. I bury part of my sticks under rocks which helps a lot. Eventually, all my sticks have sunk to the bottom of the tank but some took 1 month+

 

I just try to use a rock and keep it underwater. So, piggybacking on your thread, OP, hope you don't mind; I never boiled my driftwood, but it seems to be creating some sort of film on it, is it the bacteria forming? Would it go away? This kind of sucks in my case, I have pretty much used it as a hardscape, removing it would suck.

 

For larger pieces that wouldn't waterlog after a few weeks, I just epoxy them to the bottom of the tank with glue found at your local hardware store that can be submerged in water. I don't have the patience to wait, and when its time to redo my tank a quick razorblade gets the epoxy right off the glass.

 

I usually run zip ties around a piece of tile, then drill holes in the wood and use a zip tie to connect it to the zip tie on the tile before adding substrate. It allows me to have a track of sorts to be able to move them some, if needed. I have some larger pieces that still float after being submerged for over 2 years.

 

My method probably is awful but I just stuff them in a tank until they sink like so...

They're only really jammed behind the rock there so they don't block all the light for the plants in there ;/ gotta reorganize them (and the rocks) later. I do just let little bits stick out of the water where possible. If the piece is easy enough to weigh down with rocks or something in the position I want it to stay in sometimes I just temporarily do that until it stays down and I can remove the rocks... or reposition/scape them. I used to boil them and stuff but now I kind of like the tannins more, (also I don't have a pot big enough for those kinds of long branches,) and if it starts growing some black mold or something like that I may just take the whole thing out, give it a good scrubbing/rinse, and hose it down with h2o2 (spray bottle). I just let the white fungus/bacterial blooms stay to get eaten by livestock or snails :/

 

I just let the white fungus/bacterial blooms stay to get eaten by livestock or snails :/

+1 This, IMO Amano Shrimp do the quickest job on this.