Keruing is the name given to the timber yielded from more than 70 species of the genus Dipterocarpus. This is a group of large hardwoods. Across the entire species, a wide variety of heartwood hues are available, including deep-pink, orange-pink, and purple-red. The most common heartwood is red-brown.
Keruing timber is low maintenance, hardwearing, and ideal for outdoor furniture use. The wood is strong and classified as durable, making it useful for construction purposes. Other common uses include internal flooring, protected framing, and boards, internal joinery and moldings, lining, paneling, and framework. Preservative-treated material is used for poles, piles, sleepers, and cross-arms. It is often used as a cheaper alternative to oak for heavy construction, decking, vehicle building, and sleepers, and it is also in plywood. Where other timbers may require curing, keruing is completely cured and ready for immediate use with no risk of leaching, bleeding, or leach sap. It contains oleo-resins and will exude it onto surfaces during drying or when exposed to heat or sunshine when in use; gums may also cause problems in machining.