Thread: what tree is this

Looks like sheoak. I picked up a few roadside chunks of it some years back. Has good colour in the larger diameter logs but it really shrinks a lot while drying. I wet turned some and later when dry the bowl blank was so boat shaped it was beyond ever geting round again. Turns and works well when dry. The guage was made from one of my last bits of it.
Regards
John

If the wood is soft that makes me doubt casuarina or alocasuarina.

Any chance it could be tamarind??

Originally Posted by artme

If the wood is soft that makes me doubt casuarina or alocasuarina.

Any chance it could be tamarind??

Yeah me too till I read in Bootle its a soft to medium hardwood. Dunno about Tamarind, one thing is that there alot of it so will what I can get over the week end.

Originally Posted by hughie

Yeah me too till I read in Bootle its a soft to medium hardwood. Dunno about Tamarind, one thing is that there alot of it so will what I can get over the week end.

Not like any Tamarind I have ever seen - they are legumes from memory and have a totally different leaf structure. The leaves pictured say Casuarina/Allocasuarina to me. Pulling the segments apart and counting the small spikes "connecting" them might help with species ID.

Maybe he meant Tamarisk?

That's the one i was looking for Andy: Tamarix or Athel Pine.

Grows like buggery, excretes salt and has become a noxious weed.

Definitely in the family Casuarinaceae. Species needs to be determined from leaflet scales (as already stated) and flowers & fruit characters. Common name of sheoak or bulloak. Some of the earliest furniture made in Aus was this family. It has very large medullary rays (from the centre outwards) that give it some of the character of English Oak, though they are not related. Other Australian plants with large medullary rays include the Proteaceae like Banksia, Grevillea, Orites and Cardwellia (the latter commonly called Silky Oak). A botanists opinion.

Originally Posted by Xanthorrhoeas

Definitely in the family Casuarinaceae. Species needs to be determined from leaflet scales (as already stated) and flowers & fruit characters. Common name of sheoak or bulloak. Some of the earliest furniture made in Aus was this family. It has very large medullary rays (from the centre outwards) that give it some of the character of English Oak, though they are not related. Other Australian plants with large medullary rays include the Proteaceae like Banksia, Grevillea, Orites and Cardwellia (the latter commonly called Silky Oak). A botanists opinion.

But, he said it was a soft timber

Look at the photos of the "leaves" and bark. Casuarina stems (which look like cylindrical leaves) have linear striations - you can almost see them in the photos. The true leaves are small triangular pointed scales at the joints. Maybe it is my imagination but I can see them too. That puts it in the Casuarinaceae. When fresh the timber is quite soft and some species always fairly workable. That's one reason why it was used for furniture when the eucalypts were found so difficult to work with the steel tools that they had. It also splits well and easily for use as shingles. I would love some better photos to be sure but that's my best guessand gut feel from these.

Originally Posted by Xanthorrhoeas

Look at the photos of the "leaves" and bark. Casuarina stems (which look like cylindrical leaves) have linear striations - you can almost see them in the photos. The true leaves are small triangular pointed scales at the joints. Maybe it is my imagination but I can see them too. That puts it in the Casuarinaceae. When fresh the timber is quite soft and some species always fairly workable. That's one reason why it was used for furniture when the eucalypts were found so difficult to work with the steel tools that they had. It also splits well and easily for use as shingles. I would love some better photos to be sure but that's my best guessand gut feel from these.

I agree fully but in the state that stump is in it's gonna be a while before it bears fruit again to identify it from the 'cones' - thats the only way I can tell the 3 species we have out here apart! Any old cones still on the deck Hughie???

I think the Tamarisk & sheoak needles look quit similar, but the bark of the Tamarisk is quite chunky compared to the sheoake, which is quite smooth by comparison.

Also, I think the timber colour of the Sheoak is sort of orange & nice grain, where the Tamerisk is White and faily plain.

Steve

Not sure if this will help, but this is Tamerisk:


https://www.woodworkforums.com/attach...r-tamarisk.jpg