Sheesham wood for furniture

What Sheesham is, and what people call it

Sheesham is the timber of Dalbergia sissoo, a tree native to the subcontinent. In Urdu it is شیشم, often written Shisham in English, and in Punjabi it is called Tali or Taali. If a seller tells you that Tali is a different, cheaper wood, it is not: it is the same tree under its Punjabi name.

English sources sometimes call it "Indian rosewood" or "North Indian rosewood". That name is loose. Sheesham's status as a true rosewood is disputed, and it is lighter and less dense than East Indian rosewood, which is a different species, Dalbergia latifolia (Wood Database). We simply call it Sheesham, because that is what it is.

Where it grows

Sheesham grows across the Punjab plains: on farmland, along canal banks and in irrigated plantations. Chiniot, where our workshop has stood since 1985, is the best-known centre of Sheesham craft in Pakistan.

Supply is not what it was. Shisham dieback is described as the most important disease of the tree in the subcontinent (review, 2023), and a 2003 Punjab survey recorded heavy losses of canal-bank trees. Chiniot's furniture makers have watched wood prices climb (Express Tribune, 2019). That is one reason well-seasoned Sheesham heartwood is never the cheapest wood in the market.

Colour and grain

The heartwood is golden brown to a darker reddish brown, and the pale, straw-coloured sapwood is clearly marked off from it (Wood Database). The grain runs straight to interlocked, which gives Sheesham its ribbon-like figure under polish. The colour deepens and warms with age and light.

It turns, glues and finishes well, which is why Chinioti carvers have worked it for generations. It is not an easy wood, though: interlocked sections can tear out under a plane, and natural mineral deposits dull cutting edges (Wood Database). Clean carving in Sheesham takes sharp tools and patient hands.

Strength and stability

In plain terms: Sheesham is hard enough to shrug off the knocks of daily family life, strong enough for slim legs and long bed rails, and once it is properly seasoned it moves relatively little with the seasons. That combination is why it suits beds, dining chairs and anything that carries weight every day.

Durability and termites: the honest version

Sheesham heartwood is rated durable to very durable against decay (Wood Database). On termites, the best local evidence is a Pakistani study that tested ten woods against the subterranean termite Heterotermes indicola in laboratory and field trials: Sheesham was the most resistant of the ten, with the least wood lost (Pakistan Journal of Zoology, 2017). Chemicals in the heartwood are known to repel termites (Hassan et al., 2016, USDA Forest Service).

It is not termite-proof. In a long-running US field test, Sheesham stakes buried in the ground were badly attacked by decay and termites within eight years, while blocks kept above ground showed only slight attack (USDA Forest Service). And the pale sapwood of any tree, Sheesham included, is not durable at all.

So the accurate claim is this: naturally termite-resistant heartwood, at its best indoors and off damp floors. Anyone who promises "termite-proof" Sheesham is overselling.

What we build in Sheesham

• Beds: king, queen and storage beds, plain or carved. See also our full range of wooden beds.
• Dining tables and chairs, where hardness and joint strength matter most.
• Bed sets and bridal furniture, where every piece should match in colour and grain.
• Dressing tables, center tables and office tables.
• Solid Sheesham shutters and frames for premium kitchen cabinets.

How we season and build with it

Wood that is still wet when it is made into furniture cracks, warps and opens its joints later, so seasoning is never rushed. Indoor furniture timber is generally dried to somewhere around 6 to 12% moisture content before it is worked (woodworking references). Our timber is stacked and dried before cutting, then rested again after rough sizing so it settles before final joinery.

Load-bearing parts (legs, rails, frames) are cut from heartwood. Pale sapwood is kept out of anything that carries weight, because it is the part that rots and attracts insects. Joints are traditional, cut and fitted by hand. Pieces that must come apart for delivery, such as beds, are bolted so they can be tightened again at home.

Caring for Sheesham furniture

• Keep it indoors, out of standing water and away from long hours of direct sun, which fades the polish.
• Dust with a soft, dry cloth. Avoid harsh sprays and wet mopping around the legs.
• Re-wax or re-polish every few years, or when the surface starts to look dry.
• During the monsoon, keep legs off damp floors (felt pads help) and leave a small gap between headboards or wardrobes and damp walls.
• Check skirting and wall corners for termite mud tubes once in a while, and treat the building if you see them.

How to spot real Sheesham

• Look at an unfinished edge or the underside. Sheesham heartwood is golden to reddish brown. Where sapwood appears, it is a pale straw band with a clear boundary.
• Feel the weight. At about 770 kg/m³, a Sheesham chair is noticeably heavier than the same chair in Kail or pine.
• Try a fingernail on a hidden, unpolished spot. Sheesham resists denting; softwoods mark easily.
• Read the grain. Real wood grain never repeats. A printed laminate pattern does, panel after panel.
• Check the hidden parts. Drawer sides, back panels and the underside of table tops are where board (MDF, Lasani or chipboard) gets swapped in. An unfinished board edge shows a uniform fibre or chip core, not grain.
• Ask for it in writing. Your invoice should name the wood of each part. Ours does.

Price

Sheesham sits at the premium end of what we build in, alongside Akhrot and Teak, and well above Kail. The price reflects the timber, the seasoning time and the handwork. For a side-by-side look at the two woods we are asked about most, read Sheesham vs Kail.

Our 50-year Sheesham wood guarantee

Every piece we build from solid Sheesham carries our own 50-year guarantee on the Sheesham heartwood itself, for indoor domestic use, registered on WhatsApp after delivery. It is a commercial guarantee based on how we select, season and build, not a laboratory result. Read the full guarantee terms.