Porosity: diffuse porous
Arrangement: exclusively solitary
Vessels: medium to large, few; reddish brown deposits occasionally present
Parenchyma: diffuse-in-aggregates, banded
Rays: narrow and very wide aggregate rays; normal and very wide spacing (respectively)
Lookalikes/Substitutes: The wide rays serve to separate Allocasuarina from most other genera (except for the closely related Casuarina genus). See notes below. Additionally, having exclusively solitary pores (rather than a mixture of solitary and radial multiples) further serves to differentiate sheoaks from other hardwood species.
Notes: Western sheoak, along with most species contained in the Casuarinaceae family, feature aggregate rays that can be extremely wide—perhaps the widest of any hardwood family in the world. Even the larger rays of silky oaks and lacewood in the Proteaceae family pale in comparison to the aggregate rays found in Casuarinaceae.
Hello I am from Mauritius Island, we are surrounded by casuarina equisetifolia. I was wondering if it can be used for flooring in tropical islands and if it is resistant to termites attack which is vey common on our isand.
She Oak was commonly used as both a flooring Plank, and building frames in the old tropical style houses of the Northern Territory, Australia, not only because it was readily available, but also because it was termite and insect proof.
Many are still in place, surviving severe Cyclones and weathering, with some over 100 years old, with fine examples at Myilly Point Housing Heritage Trust, Darwin, NT.
Grew up with dozens of them around my family’s house in south Florida. Direct hit from hurricanes in 2005 took out most of them, shallow root structure pulls up completely and whole thing goes over. In 1979 Hurricane David toppled an entire interlocking group of about ten to fifteen trees on the riverfront onto the corner of our house. Once we cut them back, we got friends and pushed the cluster back upright and they grew back, the only live ones that are left now. Plenty of intact dead trunks around though unrotted. Heading there for Xmas with my 121cc… Read more »
Have used this for musical instruments
Have had problems with it moving after Dowling and water based two Pac epoxy
Hence the name SHE OAK can give you grief
Although classified as a soft wood it is hard with soft sections
Will continue to use it as it has a good weight for electric guitars
Not sure if you are referring to the same wood species that’s on this page, but I’ve never seen sheoak classified as a softwood.
needle like leaves, typical conifer, therefore softwood
I can understand the confusion, and the leaves do look like needles, but it’s not a conifer, and not a softwood.
This yo-yo is made from Australian Sheoak. End-grain is facing the camera. Was readily available in the USA 15-20 years ago. Pretty rare these days. If you find some, buy it…a great turning wood.
Casuarina equisetifolia has a 3200 on Janka scale. Its tough on my tools. Very hard to even drill.
Would love to make a 2.1 x 0.8m workbench out of it.
Hast to be milled as its cut or you will destroy a lot of blades
Etymology is not ambiguous. It was called Sheoak due to the resemblance to oak with the similar medullary rays but was thought to be not as strong a timber, hence the ‘she’.
The Sheoak I have seen and used looks a bit different. The pattern is much clearer and darker, and slightly different.