Merbau Origin: South East Asia Appearance and Properties: Merbau is medium brown colored wood with reddish/orange highlights with a course graining. Many pieces exhibit yellow "flecking" in the pores. Many pieces will have a yellow dust in the pores which show up as gold "flecking" when finished. Merbau is one of the world''s most stable woods and rivals teak in stability. Its grain and growth ring figure together with its dark red-brown color gives it a very attractive appearance.