Q on big chunks of driftwood

I wouldnt use it, you never know what kind of things it has been exposed to before you found it. I wouldnt want anything to leech into my tank, and risk killing my fish.

But thats just my thought, in the end its all up to you.

It's fine, I collect all my decorations. You could bake it, but you might want to do that before the soak, If you do it after you might unwaterlog it, but I'm not sure. Anything I can't boil, I bake, except for certain rocks which may explode under such high heat.

I would bring the water to boil in several pots and pour it onto the wood in the tub. It's kind of a tedious job but necessary if you want to clean it well. I would repeat this each day for a few days and scrub the wood with a scrubber before pouring the next batch of boiled water. After treating it with boiled water for a few days then I would just sink it in regular water in the tub for a few weeks and change the water frequently until it's done.

A friend of mine uses a lobster pot to boil his drift wood. Personally I just buy it from my LFS.

I've added boiled water to my pieces of driftwood too... rather than vice versa. My favorite piece (rather gnarled and interesting) took an entire summer soaking in a tub on the patio to get "right." After a while, I stopped fussing with it and just let it sit, submerged. Once algae grew all over, i figured it couldn't be deadly anymore!! So, with a final scrub, it went into my planted tank.

the driftwood at the lfs store is PRICEY... and, really (maybe i'm just paranoid) I'd probably feel like I had to go thru most of what I did with the "wild" driftwood... because who knows what those morons at the lfs think is the right way to treat the wood?