Any good for turning

[mjford]

Hi
I've been lurking for a year or two, and because of the wealth of information on the forum, have not needed any help till now.

I have access to quite a lot of "She Oak" up to 500mm accross, is it any good for turning or timber.

I think it is either "Casuarina equisetifolia" or similar I'm in Gladstone and there is quite a lot of it growing around the city, it seems to be quite "salt air tolerant.
Thanks in advance.

[TTIT]

Around Gladstone it could just as easily be casuarina cunninghamiana (River Oak) so you might need to look closely at the cones etc to know for sure.
If it's River Oak it is nice looking timber (the burls are amazing:o ) but it does split easily and quickly so you need to break it down to halves or preferably quarters pretty quickly - turns, sands and finishes nicely.
HOWEVER, if it's Coast Sheoak as you suspect, I have no idea what it's like to work but would love to trade a piece big enough for an egg for my collection :;:U One of my texts says it is "dark brown, very hard, very heavy, strong and durable and one of the world's best firewoods" in which case you know what to do with it if it doesn't turn well :U
..... but then I'm sure someone here has actually tried it so I'll leave it to them to describe it :shrug:

[hughie]

Further reading on the subject

Casuarina equisetifolia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casuarina_equisetifolia)


Casuarina equisetifolia - Google Images (http://images.google.com.au/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=Casuarina+equisetifolia&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=rO1KS9q2Es6HkQXu4-zzAg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCAQsAQwAw)

[funkychicken]

First things first, split it either side of the heart, otherwise you'll end up with firewood. Then cut it up into postable pieces and mail it to me:p
I've never used it but chances are it will be just like every other sheoak: pretty, hard and splitty.

I'd also like some for my collection, any chance of that happening?