Beefwood is a medium-sized tree to 14 m, usually with a single trunk and diameter up to 600 mm. Bark is deeply fissured, rough dark grey to the branches, while new bark is rufous red. It grows in the northern Goldfields, Murchison, eastern Gascoyne, southern Pilbara and the Kimberley.

Wood description [more info]
Heartwood is a rich red colour, and straight-grained, with distinctive rays on quartersawn timber. Sapwood is a pale yellow.

Wood density [more info]
Green density is about 1230 kg/m3, air-dry density about 965 kg/m3, and basic density about 820 kg/m3.

Shrinkage [more info]
Tangential and radial shrinkage are about 3.3 and 2.0 per cent respectively.

Workability [more info]
Goldfields craftsmen rate beefwood as very poor for sanding, average for boring, screwholding, stability and finishing, good for machinability and gluing, and excellent for turning.

Durability [more info]
-

Strength group and properties [more info]
AS2879 rates beefwood as (S3) and (SD4), which was confirmed by the above air-dry density. The more important strength properties based on strength groups are given in the table below.

Uses [more info]
Aborigines used the dark hard resin as an adhesive in tool manufacture. The timber has considerable potential for craftwork, particularly as inlays in marquetry.

Availability [more info]
Limited availability because of the scattered nature of the resource.