-
After hickory, Spotted Gum was the best available wood shaft material. But even Spotted Gum was hard to get in sufficient quantities (wood shafted sulkies broke a LOT of shafts) by the early 1970s, which was when R.J. Walsh & Son started hunting around for a substitute. That hunt ended with hard-drawn type 304 stainless steel tube.
-
I had a spotted gum floor Jim (double thickness - but that is another story) and remember how dense and strong it was - may have been a bit oilier than some woods.
Are these qualities that made it good for sulkies?
I believe up North it could be used as house stumps just like red gum.
The off cuts sure did burn well (no wonder that house burnt to the ground)