Does anybody know if I took a bunch of acorns and used them in an art piece, if they would rot/decay or anything?
I’m thinking about supergluing some acorns together to form a structure of sorts but I don’t know if they’d stay pretty like that or rot away over time…and the squirrels won’t talk to me about it because they’re angry that I’ve taken some of their food.*
*They taste NASTY. I ate one the other day. They’re really bitter and sharp-tasting. Heaven knows why squirrels love them so much…
while I’m not an expert on the subject. I can tell you that the ones my children have hoarded for their “collections” (yes, my children are rather odd…the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree it seems 
) have stayed very much intact as long as the shell part isn’t split anywhere. They didn’t rot or anything…they just got pretty dried out, but I would assume that would be a good thing in the end. Oh, but their drying out didn’t affect the way they looked. They were still very pretty…I would tend to think they would work well for whatever you are thinking of using them for, Cran 
Do they also collect pretty rocks?
If they do, I think I might be their long lost sibling!
they may have worms or borers in them - so freeze them for a few days before you use them.
You may want to also spray them with a shellac or something afterwards, to prevent new buggies from infesting.
As to eating them - you need to “leech” out the astringent tasting compounds before using. When Native Americans used them, they would rinse them many times over, then dry and grind into flour.
Freezing sounds good. The other Weekender regularly uses acorns in her fourth grade class and they quite often go wormy.
Cranberry, you need to soak them with several changes of water to remove the tannins, then they are good to eat. (please read a source better than this if you want to eat acorns, the red acorns are not able to be soaked like the white ones)
I am not a squirrel.
You can buy acorn flour in places where they sell ethnic foods just to try it. It’s produced in Korea. The bread is okay, as long as you sweeten it up with honey!
Because it was a staple of California Indians, we have quite a bit of lore surrounding it. I believe there might be some websites or links from Cal history sites that would give you the whole process.
I make Iron Gall ink (or close to it, Iron Acorn ink maybe???) from acorn tannens…i usually boil them out…does that make them edible too? I usually just throw them away afterwords…
hehehe…
I was going to include different uses for the water, but I felt on a ledge mentioning even how they may taste good. Please read up on your nuts.
Acorn woodpeckers manage to store them for quite long times in their granary trees, so they’ll probably last at least a year for you (if untreated, and not wormy). And preserving them with some kind of clear-coat stuff might make them very long-lasting indeed. Don’t let them get moist, or they may germinate.
Here’s an acorn woodpecker tending his stash. There are huge trees out here that are completely full of holes stuffed with acorns, tended by a community of these guys.
Now there is some GREAT advice, ID.. 
Tom
Umm… please, can I rewrite that?
Testicular cancer is one of the most easily treatable cancers if caught early, so reading up on your ahem isn’t really a bad idea…
Yes, however ahem I did not mean that.
Acorns are good!
I should just like to point out that there are many species of oak trees (genus Quercus) and that therefore there are many different varieties of acorn. I’m not aware that any are particularly toxic but they certainly won’t all be equally palatable, soaked or not. Research needed!
Steve (botany graduate living in the land of Quercus robur and Q. petraea)
not to forget quercus alba…
…in which whisky sleeps..
Of course they do…among many other things at times. Laundry is a fun thing at this house because you never know what you are going to find in their pockets.
And if you want to be their long lost sibling, you are more than welcome
…and Q. suber, under which wine sleeps…
Steve
Amar! My children’s noses are not even close to being that long! Although I do admit that they do seem to get that look in their eye when they think one of their siblings wants a bit of their hoard…