The wood from the NZ kauri is fantastic stuff, but no longer commercially harvested. This stuff will probably come from related species from Borneo, Australia or Fiji?
It's a softwood, but fairly hard and durable. Problem might be getting solid wood to match up with the plywood for banding?
I have used it on and off for 3-5 years. It is also like virola and meranti which is inexpensive enough yet flat enough for deck tops to be covered with tile or plastic laminate. I don't ever remember using it for a staingrade project or for paintgrade either. You can try it. Hogan's Hardwoods used to carry all three intermittently as I remember.