Australian smoking woods: ironbark, red gum and friends
By Tim · 26 October 2026 · 8 min read · Last reviewed 28 October 2026
Yes, you can smoke with ironbark, red gum and spotted gum. They're dense Australian hardwoods, and going by the chemistry they smoke like hardwoods, the same way post oak is the local wood in Texas. What matters as much as the species is that the wood is dry (under 20% moisture), untreated and from a tree you know. Never burn treated pine, painted wood or oleander.
On this page · 11 sections
Density at 12% moisture, kg per cubic metre
- Australian
- American
- Grey ironbark (Australian)1,105
- Narrow-leaved ironbark (Australian)1,090
- Forest red gum (Australian)1,010
- Spotted gum (Australian)1,010
- River red gum (Australian)910
- Shagbark hickory (American)~810
- White oak (American)~760
- Post oak (American)~750
- Black cherry (American)~560
- Red alder (American)~460
Australian figures: Queensland DAF / WoodSolutions. US figures computed from USDA Wood Handbook specific gravity, so they’re rounded.
Why do the wood guides all say hickory and oak?
Because they were written for America. Most of the wood guides on Australian shop sites still list hickory, pecan, mesquite, maple and alder, which is handy if you live in Texas. In Central Texas post oak is the most popular barbecue wood, and Franklin Barbecue burns nothing else. Aaron Franklin put it simply to Judson Vail for the Oxford American in 2026: "Barbecue has always been defined regionally by what wood people have to use."
Post oak became the Texan wood because it grew there, and a lot of it now comes off land being cleared. Around here that's ironbark and gum. So the American species lists don't carry over, though the reasons behind them do. Use a hardwood, make sure it's dry and know where it came from.
Which ironbark, and which red gum?
Ironbark isn't one tree. In Queensland it's mostly narrow-leaved ironbark (Eucalyptus crebra), the most widespread one, which grows from Sydney to Cairns and inland. Then there's grey ironbark (E. drepanophylla and E. paniculata). Red ironbark (E. sideroxylon) is the southern one. They're all eucalypts.
Red gum is where it gets confusing. Most guides mean river red gum (E. camaldulensis), which grows inland and not along the east coast of Queensland. If you buy red gum in central Queensland it's usually forest red gum (E. tereticornis), which also gets sold as blue gum, just to keep you on your toes. Spotted gum is a Corymbia, a close cousin of the eucalypts, and lemon-scented gum is one kind of it. So ask your supplier which tree it is, because the name on the sign changes from town to town.
Australian hardwoods are heavy
Ours are a lot denser than the woods the American recipes were written for.
| Wood | Density at 12% moisture (kg/m³) |
|---|---|
| Grey ironbark | 1,105 |
| Narrow-leaved ironbark | 1,090 |
| Forest red gum (Queensland “red gum” or “blue gum”) | 1,010 |
| Spotted gum | 1,010 |
| River red gum | 910 |
| Shagbark hickory | ~810 |
| White oak | ~760 |
| Post oak | ~750 |
| Black cherry | ~560 |
| Red alder | ~460 |
Ironbark is about 45% heavier than post oak, roughly half as heavy again. Which means a split of ironbark carries about half as much wood again by weight as the same sized split of post oak, so you'll be feeding the fire a bit less often. Forest red gum is about a third heavier than post oak. The American advice on how many splits to add and how often was written for lighter wood, so take it as a rough guide.
Is ironbark a stronger smoke?
I reckon it is. Ironbark is a stronger smoke than oak to me, and I've heard other cooks say the same.
The chemistry suggests eucalypts belong with the hardwoods. Most of the smoky taste comes from compounds released as the wood's lignin breaks down, mainly guaiacols, which smell of clove and vanilla, and syringols, which smell of ash and smoke. Hardwood smoke is mostly syringols, whereas softwoods like pine and spruce give mostly guaiacols. The eucalypts that have been measured are heavy in the syringyl type, though those were plantation species and ironbark wasn't one of them.
Softwood is worth keeping out of the smoker anyway. In one study of ten woods, the type of wood changed the amount of tar-like compounds (PAHs) on smoked meat by about ten times, with apple and alder lowest and spruce the highest. In a wood heater test, pine made about a quarter more particulate per kilo than blue gum.
How you burn the wood matters as much as which wood it is. Smouldering wood makes far more smoke compounds than a clean flame, and Clean smoke: thin blue vs thick white goes into that properly. When cooks want a gentler wood they usually reach for fruit and nut woods like apple, cherry, pecan or macadamia. Though a milder wood won't always win over someone who just doesn't like smoke, and BBQ for people who don't love smoke covers what does.
Dry matters as much as which tree
Firewood counts as dry under 20% moisture, going by WA's environment department, and the NSW EPA says freshly cut wood needs eight to twelve months of storage to get there. Dense eucalypts are slow to dry, red ironbark among them, so treat that as the least it needs.
Wet wood smoulders. In a 2010 Auckland test on wood heaters, wood at 35% moisture made about 2.7 times the particulate smoke per kilo of wood at 15%, and blue gum was one of the three woods tested. Damp wood at 25% was nearly as bad as the wet. That was a heater and a smoker isn't a heater, but the reason carries over even if the exact multiple doesn't, because until the water's gone the wood can't burn cleanly.
A moisture meter is the easiest check. Without one, tap a piece with a coin or knock two together, and dry wood gives a loud, hollow sound.
What I burn
For the past year or more I've burned ironbark over charcoal on every cook, usually double-split. Not varied, not experimented with. My normal supply has been seasoned for about 10 years, which is far longer than it needs.
Though the tree staying the same doesn't mean the wood stayed the same. Split size, how long it had been seasoned and who I bought it from all changed now and then, and I wasn't writing any of that down.
On a 1.7 kg leg of mutton on my Hark in August I was running low, so I used a big single-split log of ironbark I'd bought locally, seasoning unknown and probably a lot shorter, with my usual double split on top. That cook had the flattest fire I've logged and no dirty smoke at any point. I was also running the fire tighter that day, so honestly I can't tell you whether it was the wood or me. If you're going to change your wood, change only the wood.
Where to get it
Buy it. Taking firewood from a Queensland state forest or national park without a permit is an offence, with on-the-spot fines of more than $1,300, so get it from a lawful source.
Pallets carry a stamp. HT means the timber was heat-treated, to at least 56°C (133°F) in the core for at least 30 minutes, and MB means it was fumigated with methyl bromide. Don't bother with either. Pallet timber is often softwood and you've no idea what tree it came from, plus nobody says heat-treated pallets are fine to cook over.
HT: Heat-treated
At least 56°C (133°F) in the core for at least 30 minutes.
MB: Fumigated
With methyl bromide.
A drawing, not a real stamp: the dashed square and the line stand for the stamp’s other marks.
At your pit
- Buy ironbark or gum from a supplier you can go back to, and ask which tree it is.
- Check it's dry. A meter reading under 20%, or a hollow knock when you tap two pieces together.
- If it's freshly cut, stack it and give it the best part of a year at least, longer for dense eucalypts like ironbark.
- Don't soak it.
- Keep treated pine, painted wood, pallets and oleander away from the smoker.
- Once you've found wood that works, stick with it, same supplier and same split size, and note it when either changes. Then when a cook goes differently you've a better chance of knowing whether it was the wood.
Quick answers
Can you smoke meat with gum or eucalyptus wood?
Yes. Ironbark, forest red gum and spotted gum are dense hardwoods, and the eucalypts that have been measured have hardwood-type wood chemistry, so their smoke should behave like other hardwood smoke. They're the local equivalent of Texan post oak. What matters more is that the wood is dry, untreated and from a known tree. Keep treated pine, painted wood and oleander out of the smoker altogether.
Is ironbark or red gum better for smoking brisket?
There's no measured answer. Both are dense eucalypts, and ironbark is a little heavier, so each split carries a bit more fuel and lasts a little longer. In central Queensland "red gum" usually means forest red gum, which is also sold as blue gum. Pick whichever you can get dry from a supplier you can go back to, then stick with it so you can judge your cooks.
Should I soak wood chunks or chips before smoking?
There's little point. In one kitchen test, wood chunks soaked for 12 hours gained only about 3% in weight and chips about 6%, and dye showed the water barely got past the surface. Dry wood that catches cleanly is what you want in the firebox.
For the curious
The smoky compounds are methoxyphenols: guaiacols and syringols, from the breakdown of lignin. Kjällstrand and Petersson (2001, Science of the Total Environment) found hardwood smoke dominated by syringols and softwood by guaiacols, Vazquez et al. 2025 identified the key aromas in hardwood smoke, and Rencoret et al. (2007, Holzforschung) measured syringyl-rich lignin in five plantation eucalypts. I couldn't find a published taste test of eucalypt smoke against oak or hickory on meat, so wood flavour charts are opinion. The PAH figures are Stumpe-Vīksna et al. (2008, Food Chemistry). The moisture test is Xie et al. 2010. Australian densities come from the Queensland government's timber properties pages and WoodSolutions for river red gum, and the American ones are worked from specific gravity in the USDA Wood Handbook (2010). The CCA warning is HealthyWA, and the firewood rules are in the Queensland government's Don't go bush for firewood.
If you're between Rockhampton and Bundaberg and would rather someone else stood at the pit for your next event, that's what I do. Get a rough price →
