Forgot to add: This table would be subject to a lot of use...feet propped on it, etc.

A lot of low-end furniture is made of parawood, aka rubberwood, aka malaysian oak (!?!) It's heavy and dense.

I've refinished a couple of pieces of it, but can't remember much of the details, so it must have been not a problem.

If you are unsure of how things will work try out a few candidates on the bottom of the table top before committing to your project.

Good idea, why hadn't I thought of that? I have a DR table, chairs, and china cabinet I was told was Brazilian Mahogany that ended up being parawood. I repainted it, but thought the paint would NEVER cure, even after sanding, using great primer and great paint. I'm very happy with the furniture, it is very heavy, but don't know if I want to go through all that again. I'm thinking of spray painting this one. You've encouraged me, thanks so much.

If anyone else has any experience with parawood, I'd appreciate any tips you have.

Its in the same family as maple but not as light color as american maple, thus called rubberwood because the sap from the tree is used for making rubber/latex etc. One problem is that getting the moisture content down to levels to prevent cracking or joint separation. Its a sub-tropical tree grown/harvested in areas where most dry kilns is just a large brick wood fired oven at best.

Thanks so much for your responses. After reading your advice, then shopping around, I've decided not to buy the parawood table. I found a 3 piece solid wood coffee table/end table set at the Abandoned Goods warehouse for $90! They're round and will have to be distressed to look right in the room, but I'm very flexible when it comes to getting something cheap! LOL