Swings and roundabouts?
There are few domestic hardwoods available that are as strong as oak, it has excellent resistance to rot, but it does somewhat lack flexibility. Ash and hickory are similarly long grained (strong) timbers, but have better flex and shock resistance. Which is why it’s good for hammer shafts. Sadly ash is getting much harder to find, due to all the trees suffering from Dieback disease, to the extent that it’s basically getting unobtainable.
We use ash at work, in guitar making. It’s now reserved only for our best guitars, as it’s gotten so difficult to obtain in quality quantities..
Ive used quite a lot of Obeche in my build. It’s similar to balsa, but denser and much stronger. It was used most famously in the dH mosquito. It shrinks and moves quite a bit, so you need to make sure it’s fully seasoned, and it’s full of silica which can be a bit of a bear on cutting tools and lungs, but apart from that it’s really nice.
Coincidentally; ash and Obeche make great sounding guitars, but oak sounds rubbish because there’s no resonance. ;c)