Blue Gum

Blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus)

Common Name(s): Blue gum, Southern blue gum

Scientific Name: Eucalyptus globulus

Distribution: Tasmania and southern Australia; also widely grown on plantations in subtropical regions

Tree Size: 100-180 ft (30-55 m) tall,

                     3-5 ft (1-1.5 m) trunk diameter

Average Dried Weight: 51 lbs/ft3 (820 kg/m3)

Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC): 0.68, 0.82

Janka Hardness: 2,370 lbf (10,550 N)

Modulus of Rupture: 19,530 lbf/in2 (134.7 MPa)

Elastic Modulus: 2,720,000 lbf/in2 (18.76 GPa)

Crushing Strength: 11,160 lbf/in2 (76.9 MPa)

Shrinkage: Radial: 6.8%, Tangential: 12.8%,

                          Volumetric: 19.7%, T/R Ratio: 1.9

Color/Appearance: Heartwood is a light yellowish brown. Narrow sapwood is a pale gray/white. Boards with mottled figure are sometimes seen, as well as solid burl sections and veneer.

Grain/Texture: Grain tends to be interlocked, with a uniform medium to coarse texture. Low natural luster.

Rot Resistance: Rated as moderately durable, though susceptible to insect attack.

Workability: Gives moderately good results with hand and machine tools, though boards with interlocked grain (especially on quartersawn surfaces) frequently causes tearout during planing and other surfacing operations. Blue gum tends to have many internal stresses and drying difficulties, and also has a large amount of movement in service, which excludes it from being used in applications where stability is important. Glues and finishes well.

Odor: No characteristic odor.

Allergies/Toxicity: Although severe reactions are quite uncommon, blue gum has been reported to cause skin irritation. See the articles Wood Allergies and Toxicity and Wood Dust Safety for more information.

Pricing/Availability: Plantation-grown lumber is regularly available (sometimes sold simply as “eucalyptus”) and is moderately priced for an imported hardwood. Figured boards and burls are likely to be much more expensive.

Sustainability: This wood species is not listed in the CITES Appendices, and is reported by the IUCN as being a species of least concern.

Common Uses: Utility lumber, pallets, paper (pulpwood), fenceposts, flooring, veneer, and turned objects.

Comments: Sometimes called southern blue gum to help distinguish it from Eucalyptus saligna, commonly called Sydney glue gum. This species also currently has four recognized subspecies:[1]CANBR. (2020). Eucalyptus globulus subsp. globulus. EUCLID.

  • Eucalyptus globulus ssp. bicostataVictorian blue gum
  • Eucalyptus globulus ssp. globulusTasmanian blue gum
  • Eucalyptus globulus ssp. maideniiMaiden’s gum
  • Eucalyptus globulus ssp. pseudoglobulusVictorian eurabbie

This fast-growing tree is widely cultivated as a plantation species within Australia and other subtropical climates. Plantation grown lumber tends to be lighter and softer than forest-grown blue gum. The wood is primarily used for pulp and fuel, though some is harvested for woodworking purposes. Blue gum is generally regarded as a utility lumber.

Images: Drag the slider up/down to toggle between raw and finished wood.

A special thanks to Steve Earis for providing a wood sample of this species.

Do you have images of projects made from this wood species? You can submit them to me here.

Identification: See the article on Hardwood Anatomy for definitions of endgrain features.

Blue gum (endgrain 10x)
Blue gum (endgrain 1x)

Porosity: diffuse porous

Arrangement: exclusively solitary

Vessels: large to very large, few to very few; tyloses common

Parenchyma: diffuse-in-aggregates and vasicentric (visible parenchyma is generally very minimal)

Rays: narrow width; normal to close spacing

Lookalikes/Substitutes: Can bear a close resemblance to other Eucalyptus plantation species, such as mountain ash (E. regnans) or the hybrid lyptus (E. urograndis). Separation of eucalypts down to a species level can be very difficult and usually isn’t possible on the basis of endgrain anatomy.

Notes: Exclusively solitary pores is a fairly uncommon anatomical feature that can help separate blue gum from a host of other diffuse porous hardwoods.

> Hardwoods > Myrtaceae > Eucalyptus > Related Species

Related Content:

References

References
1 CANBR. (2020). Eucalyptus globulus subsp. globulus. EUCLID.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
17 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Konstantin

Does not glue well though. Where’d that come from?

Last edited 1 year ago by Konstantin
Marcelle

Hello. I bought sculptures made from Blue gum wood and they are cracking and changing colour. Please advise on how I can treat the sculptures.
Many thanks

Grant

Are Blue gums any good for bridge beams?

Mick

Hi
My experience with bluegum from southern Tas is that is yellow(ish), but some pink at times. I haven’t used it for doors or furniture, but older bluegum is very hard and being quite cross-grained and good oil content, is great for decking timber (I leave mine rough sawn on top).

Kleinmuis

It says that it has some stability issues, I have about seven 50mm thick slabs cut for me, and Im planing to make a guitar out of one of them. Do you think if would be able to withstand the tension, or would it deform/bend? Btw the bluegum wood I have is a south-africa species, im not sure if that would make it easier.

Varsha Negi

Hi, kindly suggest which is best species of Eucalyptus for Furniture and door frame.

Alex Siegel

Hi Everyone!

I’m new to the world of arborists. There was a large Blue Gum Eucalyptus that fell two weeks ago. I had some pretty large pieces (80″ x 50″) brought back to my property to get milled. I have x7 2.5″ slabs stacked now. I’m wondering if there’s any special treatment I should do while it dries? I notice some cracks forming on the ends.

Thanks!

Tim

This article is incorrect. Blue Gum is a red timber and very durable. I work with it daily and the picture above is not consistent with what I look at daily for the past 10 years

Paul

Around here (Northern NSW) Blue Gum is always red or red/pink and refers to Eucalyptus saligna. Not a criticism, just letting you know.

Cill

Why wouldn’t there be a characteristic eucalypt smell with all the eucalypt woods????
I assumed my floor boards were pine, till I started sanding- then it was obvious they were some kind of (very light fairly knotty) eucalyptus…. the smell was very strong.

Ken

Please can someone tell me how Bluegum should be drie at home in small quantities? If cut into small 300mm rounds with endgrain up, quick dried? Thanks.

Pär Wiberg

As all eucalyptus species this species, known as blue gum are difficult to dry. Especially when MC is above FSP. This is because of the small pith openings and enormus variation in density across the year ring. The level of under-pressure due to small pith openings developed during too high drying rate is causing cell collapse. Because of enomeous tension due to cell collaps and low density with low resistance to tension in the early wood this can lead to honeycombing and internal cracks.

bren

made my front door from this timber, lovely red/orange colour and very hard timber.
had to hand cut mortises and the timber was hard going to chop a mortise in..