Can you toast different woods?

I was wondering if anyone has tried toasting their own oak cubes? i found a thread about it and it intrigued me.

http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=104116

I started looking into this because i am moving to Hawaii soon and i got some ideas for my first brew in Hawaii. I've had the Maui brewing company's coconut porter and i wanted to do something similar. But i always like to do my own little twist on things. I was thinking i could take some coconuts and use their shells. I might oven roast the shells and then throw them in a porter im thinking about making.

Any thoughts?

I'm curious about this one too. Unfortunately I don't get to live in paradise, but I like the idea of gaining other flavors from other woods. Pine, apple, cherry... I'll stay awake from hemlock though ha.