I can speak from some experience since I got some good sized (18 - 24 inch tall) cypress knees from Tom Barr, you can use that stuff for a life jacket. Charlene Nash told me that they use cypress knees for their large tank backgrounds at the Tennessee Aquarium and they have to use concrete and rebar to weigh the stuff down. I boiled them for a couple of days to a week in a really big kettle and they sank. Try it, should work. good luck! Kevin von Finger _______________________________________________ AGA-Member mailing list AGA-Member@thekrib.com http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/aga-member