Driftwood as orchid mounts

[ArronOB]

Hi. Recent bushfires followed by floods have deposited loads of timber on our local beach - a rare event. I went down there today and chose some really gnarly, characterful pieces to use as orchid mounts.

These would be pieces of local eucalyptus hardwoods, with burnt patches. How long they would have been in the salt water I can’t say - they could have been washed into the flooded river in recent days, or could have been lying around the shoreline in the many sheltered bays and inlets upstream for any amount of time.

So I’m guessing that the burnt patches won’t bother the orchids as they do well in charcoal potting mix. But what about the possibility that they might be waterlogged with seawater? Is that even possible? Anyone used driftwood for orchid mounts? Did you do anything to remove any possible salt?

I would really like to use these pieces as interesting, well weathered mounts like these are not easy to come by locally. So would they be safe choice?

Cheers
Arron