The Māori had many uses for the gum, which they called kapia. Fresh gum was used as a type of chewing gum (my Ancient gum fudge melts in your mouth but pine burps for days). Highly flammable, the gum was also used as a fire-starter as well it admits an earthy pine aroma. it was bound in flax to act as a torch. Burnt and mixed with animal fat, it made a dark pigment for moko tattooing (GumLamps (@gumlamps) | TikTok. Kauri gum was also crafted into jewellery, keepsakes and small decorative items. Like amber, kauri gum sometimes includes insects and plant material.

Kauri gum was used commercially in varnish, and can be considered a type of copal (the name given to resin used in such a way). Kauri gum was particularly useful for this, and from the mid-1840s was exported to London and America. Tentative exports had begun a few years earlier, for use in marine glue and as fire-kindlers;gum was part of an export cargo to Australia in 1814.

Since kauri gum would mix more easily with linseed oil at lower temperatures, by the 1890s 70% of all oil varnishes made in England used kauri gum.^] It was used to a limited extent in paints during the late 19th century, and from 1910 was used extensively in manufacturing linoleum. From the 1930s, the market for gum dropped as synthetic alternatives were found, but there remained niche uses for the gum in jewellery and specialist high-grade varnish for violins

Kauri gum was Auckland‘s main export in the second half of the 19th century, sustaining much of the early growth of the city. Between 1850 and 1950, 450,000 tons of gum were exported. The peak in the gum market was 1899, with 11,116 tons exported that year, with a value of £600,000 ($989,700 US).^] The average annual export was over 5,000 tons, with the average price gained £63 ($103.91 US) per ton.