Friends,
I sent this out earlier today, but it doesn't seem to have shown up on
the porch. Fortunately, and as I hoped, Derek came up with good info
and some pix of some very nice work. No doubt that the Western
Australia species of Casuarina yield better timber than the species
where I live.
Regards,
Tony B
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Re: [OldTools] Australian Pine Questions
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2019 12:53:51 +1100
From: Tony Blanks
To: oldtools
Hi Bill
> I've had a couple good-sized Australian Pine trees (US name) come down
> in my
> yard recently in S Florida. I believe the trees are known as She-Oak in
> Australia and that they are not related to pines at all.
Correct. The species you have in Florida is Casuarina equisetifolia,
and there is some information about it here:
https://bie.ala.org.au/species/http://id.biodiversity.org.au/node/apni/2911837
It is a tropical and subtropical species, generally found on coastal sites.
> The wood is more
> dense and has a reddish color. Does anyone have experience with using the
> wood for projects? Wondering about its workability, how it takes
> stains, if
> there are special drying considerations or other considerations.
C. equisetifolia doesn't grow here in Tasmania where I live, though
there are other Casuarina species here. Examples of the Tasmanian
species rarely grow large enough to do much with other than small boxes,
turned pens and egg cups etc. Most of trees large enough to consider
sawing have deeply fissured and folded trunks, so that it is difficult
to get slabs or sawn pieces which do not have bark inclusions. The
pieces I have played with work well, though the timber is very hard and
sharp edges are essential. Depending on how the log has been sawn there
will be medullary rays as in US oak. In my experience boards are
difficult to season without warping, cupping, twisting and splitting,
but that may be because the source trees were slow-grown on hard sites,
so probably had plenty of internal stresses to relieve!
Casuarina makes great firewood, though splitting the logs is hard work.
It burns very hot, and local wisdom is that burning Casuarina regularly
in a slow combustion heater will risk burning out the firebox.
If Derek Cohen is on the porch at the moment he will probably have more
useful information: I have seen some quite long and wide Casuarina
boards sourced from Western Australia where Derek lives.
Regards,
Tony B
Hobart, Tasmania
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