Spotted gum

Appearance.
Spotted gum timbers are available in a range of colours depending on the location of the source forest. The heartwood ranges from light brown through definite browns to deep red-brown hues. Sapwood is white to light brown in colour and can be up to 50mm wide. Spotted gum is a moderately coarse and uneven textured wood with some timbers having the additional feature of a wavy grain, giving rise to an attractive fiddleback figure.
Common applications.
Spotted gum has a long history of use in engineering applications such as wharf and bridge construction, railway sleepers, cross-arms and mining timbers. It is used for a variety of applications, including structural building members, such as posts and poles, and for framing, flooring, lining, decking and cladding. It is also used in boatbuilding and is the primary Australian timber used for the handles of tools and implements that are subject to high impact forces. Spotted gum is a suitable carving and woodturning timber and is used in the manufacture of both indoor and outdoor furniture. Outdoor furniture in spotted gum has consistently won industry awards in Australia and is exported to destinations around the world.
Common form.
Sawn, Veneer.
Workability.
Spotted gum machines well due to its natural greasiness and there is no difficulty using the timber with standard fittings and fastenings. As with most high-density species, machining and surface preparation should be done immediately before gluing. Spotted gum readily accepts paint, stains and polish. It has a lower tannin content than most other eucalypts, therefore staining of paintwork or brickwork as a result of water running over unpainted timber surfaces is less likely to occur.