| Janka Hardness Ratings The Janka, or “side,” hardness rating of wood is a relative measurement of its resistance to impact and wear. Therefore, the rating gives prospective flooring buyers a numerical representation of the wood’s durability. This is obviously very important for matching flooring material to its intended usage. Higher levels of foot traffic would require a more durable species and thus one with a higher Janka rating. The Janka test basically involves measuring the amount of force, in pounds per square inch (psi), required to embed half the diameter of a 0.444-inch steel ball into the face of a wood sample. Of course, several tests are performed to find the proper amount of force, and then a series of tests are averaged to determine the rating. Technically, the average includes samples of tangential (plain-sawn) and radial (quarter-sawn) material. If you are a do-it-yourselfer, there is another point you need to keep in mind about the hardness of wood. The harder the wood, the more difficult it will be to saw or nail. Unless you have top-of-the-line equipment and a lot of wood flooring experience, you may not want to select the species with the highest Janka rating. To give you a comparison between a popular domestic and a popular exotic hardwood, let’s look at Northern red oak and Jatoba (aka Brazilian cherry). If you have ever worked with red oak, then you are familiar with how it cuts and nails. Its Janka rating is 1290. Jatoba, on the other hand, has a Janka rating of 2820 – that’s 119% harder! If we compare the Northern red oak with Southern yellow pine, we see a different extreme. The short leaf variety of Southern yellow pine has a Janka rating of 690, making it 47% softer than Northern red oak. Though the pine would be easier to work with, it does have its drawbacks. Being softer, it will certainly dent much easier and possibly scratch easier, depending on the finish. All it takes is one step from a shoe with a pebble stuck in the sole, or a step with a spike high heel, and you have instant floor damage. Although all of the hardwood products on FastFloors.com have their Janka rating listed, we thought it would be convenient for our visitors to have a comparative reference. So we put together the following list of the most popular wood species to help you with your selection. Species Durability - Janka Brazilian Walnut 3680 Brazilian Teak 3540 Tiete Rosewood 3280 Rosewood 3170 Lapacho 3060 African Pearwood 2990 Amendoim 2947 Ironwood 2890 Brazilian Cherry 2820 Jatoba 2760 Spotted Gum 2473 Cabreuva 2320 Santos Mahogany 2200 Tiger Wood 2160 Sucupira 2140 Purple Heart 2090 Asian Pine 2048 Pradoo 2040 Sydney Blue 2025 African Rosewood 1980 Pyinkado 1950 Merbau 1925 Jarrah 1910 Hickory 1820 Hickory Pecan 1820 Pecan 1820 Afzelia 1770 Doussie 1770 African Oak 1725 Padauk 1725 Kempas 1710 Brazilian Hickory 1654 Balau 1640 Thatch 1640 African Wenge 1630 Peroba 1600 Timborana 1570 African Sapele 1500 Brazilian Maple 1500 Maple 1450 Australian Cypress 1375 Oak 1360 White Oak 1360 Red Oak 1360 Ash 1320 Beech 1300 African Walnut 1290 Angelique 1290 Birch 1260 Iroko 1260 Kambala 1260 Yellow Birch 1260 Nyatoh 1195 Teak 1155 Tiete Chestnut 1155 Brazilian Eucalyptus 1125 Curupixa 1018 African Cherry 1010 Black Walnut 1010 Walnut 1010 American Cherry 950 Cherry 950 Bangkirai 880 Tauari 880 Pine 870 Elm 830 Larch 800 Mahogany 800 African Cedar 765 Chestnut 540 White Birch 420 Basswood 410 |
