Thread: Seasoned Bull Oak trees potentially available for wood turners or carvers.

Have you got any true botanical identification?

There are many so called Bull Oaks, there is the potentially valuable Allocasuarina luehmannii (Buloke) as it is the prised hardest (Janka) timber in the world, but there is also Cardwellia sublimis, Allocasuarina fraseriana, Allocasuarina littoralis, Casuarina obesa, Casuarina suberosa, Hakea chordophylla, and Oreocallis wickhamii

Allocasuarina luehmannii (Buloke) being the only one on the above list that occurs naturally near Chinchilla and western downs generally.

Assuming Gleno's farm is near Tara Qld it (buloke) is very likely to be a Casuarina (most likely Allocasurina leuhmanii) and not the tropical or coastal species (of Proteaceae family) mentioned as alternatives.

Gleno of course can confirm that but by the climate this Casuarina prefers (hot dry) it would seem to be the case.

A great wood for turning handles etc even though it is hard to mill and cracks readily along the rays.

Euge

Originally Posted by Gleno

I do have some photos, but the allowable size on these forums don't do them any justice. .

Hi Gleno

Have you tried re-sizing the picture files in image viewer programs using the save as option in file menu. I use Irfanview a simple image viewer.

Be nice to see what you are talking about.

Red

I'm potentially interested in some. If it turns out to be Buloke let me know.

Hi everyone,

I am assuming it is the real deal, (buloke), as my property is near Chinchilla, and matches all the research I have done on it. I will have a go at trying to compress the images as soon as I can or over the weekend. The other species it is growing amongst is Cypress Pine, Iron bark and Red Gum, if that helps.

Agree with others in your area the likely Bull Oak is the Buloke, but there are also other Casuarinas. When you are taking photos, try to get needles and seedpods as well as bark etc.

Someone gave me some so called Bull Oak from out that way, certainly looked like the timber, but was quite soft relatively speaking

Ok, try these photos.

If the last 2 photos are of the same tree, I'd say no it's not Buloke, the bark looks wrong. Got any closer photos of live ones?

No not yet, but will get on it next time I go out there, next weekend.

The large rays in photo 28 certainly look like family Casuarinaceae.

From cut end of the log shown the prominent rays, wood colour (red brown) and small sapwood is all consistent with buloke.
I am more familar with it growing in more sparse woodland eg in western NSW or VIC. It often grows with white Cypress.

Buloke is a VERY dense wood (ie dry heartwood sinks in water) easy test to do.

Euge

Buloke is a VERY dense wood (ie dry heartwood sinks in water) easy test to do.

There is plenty of cypress in amongst this stuff. I'll do the sink test over the weekend. It is very dense wood because the termites can't even chew through it, and is hell on my chainsaws. I'll also bring back some samples so they are closer to Brisbane and more pictures of the live trees.

Cheers everyone, thanks for the interest so far.

These pictures should provide the answers. The seeds and leaves match the drawings in my little tree book. passed the sink test too.