Janka Rating Hardwood

No matter what species you re interested in chances are it has already undergone the janka hardness test.

Janka rating hardwood. For hardwood flooring the test usually requires a 2 6 sample with a thickness of at least 6 8mm and the most commonly used test is the astm d1037. The janka test was developed as a variation of the brinell hardness test. The janka rating is a measure of the amount of force required to push a 444 diameter steel ball half way into a piece of wood. Similar to a laminate ac rating the hardwood floor hardness determines the durability of the species.

Brazilian cherry jatoba hardwood flooring is 224 times harder than a red oak floor. Hardwood flooring species are usually compared to red oak as the basis such as. In hardwood flooring the score is used to determine the durability of hardwood species that it might be suitable for a home. Use this guide to understand precisely what each rating means for a better likelihood of choosing the right hardwood flooring.

As an example red oak hardwood has a janka rating of 1260 meaning it took 1260 pounds of force to embed the steel ball half way into the sample piece of red oak. The test measures the force required to push a steel ball with a diameter of 11 28 millimeters 0 444 inches into the wood to a depth of half the ball s diameter. The janka test measures the amount of force needed to drive a 0 444 inch steel ball into wood to a depth equal to half its diameter. A common use of janka hardness ratings is to determine whether a species is suitable for use as flooring.

It is not productive to take issue with the exact number but rather understand the relative hardness of one wood to another. In laymans terms it is a way to measure a woods resistance to denting. A janka rating is a hardness estimate given to wood. The janka scale is used to determine the relative hardness of particular domestic or exotic wood species.

The scale used in the table is pounds force. The janka hardness scale determines the hardness of a particular type of wood over another. Woods with a higher rating are harder than woods with a lower rating. The scale was invented in 1906 by gabriel janka an austrian wood researcher and standardized in 1927 by the american society for testing and materials astm.

To give some quantification to the issue of wood species hardness the lumber industry created the janka hardness scale a standard now widely accepted as the best means of ranking a wood s hardness. The janka rating scale was created to rank the various degrees of hardness throughout the different species of hardwoods. The janka test measures the amount of force required to embed a 0 444 steel ball into the wood to half of its diameter. These ratings were calculated using the janka hardness test which measures the force needed to embed a 444 inch steel ball to half its diameter in a piece of wood.

The higher the number the harder the wood.