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KERUING / APITONG

Dipterocarpus spp.
Dipterocarpus spp. of the family Dipterocarpaceae, the dipterocarp family.

Botanical names that have the common names
keruing and/or apitong as all or part of
one or more of their common names

BOTH APITONG AND KERUING	APITONG ONLY
Dipterocarpus alatus	Dipterocarpus orbicularis
Dipterocarpus basilanicus	Dipterocarpus speciosus
Dipterocarpus borneensis	Vatica mangachapoi
Dipterocarpus caudatus
Dipterocarpus caudiferus	KERUING ONLY
Dipterocarpus elongatus	THREE DOZEN PLUS species in the genus Dipterocarpus **
Dipterocarpus eurynchus	Anisoptera aurea
Dipterocarpus gracilis	Canarium megalanthum
Dipterocarpus grandiflorus	Neobalanocarpus heimii
Dipterocarpus hasseltii	Vatica cuspidata
Dipterocarpus kunstleri
Dipterocarpus tonkinensis
Dipterocarpus warburgii

** see here for the full list

It is not clear to me that any rigor is used by vendors in applying common names to species, and I cannot find sufficient information to distinguish among them and so I lump them all together here.

Despite having several formal samples, I am not really familiar with these woods, having never had anything BUT small sample pieces and thus having never worked with it. Paul van Rijckevorsel tells me this is a rough and tough wood from SE Asia (he was speaking of Dipterocarpus spp. and specifically the common name keruing).

I have it anecdotally that oleoresins in the wood make gluing somewhat difficult and the presence of silicates in the wood make it tough on cutting edges.

my samples: NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K) colors will vary under other lighting conditions

both sides of a sample plank of keruing / Dipterocarpus hasseltii --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of keruing / Dipterocarpus turbinatus --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of keruing / Dipterocarpus tuberculatus --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of keruing / Dipterocarpus alatus --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of keruing (apitong) / Dipterocarpus alatus --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUP of the piece directly above


both sides of a sample plank of keruing / Dipterocarpus spp.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of keruing / Dipterocarpus spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of keruing / Dipterocarpus spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


both sides of a sample plank of keruing / Dipterocarpus dyeri --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


small plank and end grain


end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above


both sides of a sample plank of a piece of wood from a crate, and strongly believed to be Dipterocarpus spp., but this may or may not be wood that uses the common name keruing or apitong. HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of another sample plank of from the same crate as the piece directly above and the same comments apply. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

web pics:

end grain closeup of a piece labeled only as Dipterocarpus spp. so it may or may not be a wood that has apitong as a common name, but the characteristics are very similar. Enlargements are present.


planks listed as apitong


planks listed as keruing --- I note that the first of these is the exact same pic as the first of the ones directly above labeled apitong except that (1) it is from a different vendor and (2) it has been cropped slightly differently and the color has been darkened. This is the kind of nonsense that made me start this site in the first place.


plank listed as keruing / Dipterocarpus confertus


plank listed as apitong / Dipterocarpus grandiflorus


veneer listed as Dipterocarpus tuberculatus


flooring listed as apitong