spacey
LOL...
I was going to get a lathe and make Jonbuoy at set...he wisely declined.
 
My father-in-law made many things with his metal lathe. He was very good. Made miniature steam engines and all types of very cool things.
He got some timber that was removed from a mine shaft. I can't recall what type but it is the beams
down the side of the mine shaft that the "safety dogs" of the cage would dig into should the cage freefall.
He made my us two baseball bats from that wood that are as same diameter but only about 16-18" long.
He said they were Eskimo baseball bats....short days, short games...short bats.
No doubt they are very tuff headbangers.
 

Depending upon the type of wood used in the mine shaft supports ... It could have made a very cool snare drum in addition to sticks.
 
Drum Workshop (DW) offered a snare drum several years ago called the "Dw Craviotto Timeless Timber".  They used very old logs that had been recovered from Lake Superior.  The logs came from 600 year old trees cut doun in the mid-1800's and then lost in the lake at that time (sorry, I don't mean to sound like an advertisement but I've always wanted one of those snares). 

I think he told me it was Karrie wood from Australia (not sure of spelling)
but I can't find information about that wood.
 
I know it is extremely hard/dense and I imagine drum sticks made with it
would be very hard to break.
 
Of course if I had a lathe I'd more than likely be turning for guitar volume knobs. :)

ProMark Japanese Oak 5a's Nylon Tip. I like the clear and distinct "ping" and "clarity" I get with nylon tips after a few jam sessions.