Wood hardness scale

[greywolf]

Janka Hardness Scale
Janka hardness measurements reflect the number of pounds pressure it takes to press a .444" diameter steel ball, to it's maximum diameter,  into a vertical sawn section of wood.


Wood Variety sorted by Hardness
Macassar Ebony 3220
Screwbean Mesquite 2335
Persimmon 2300
Dogwood 2150
Ohia 2090
Osage-Orange 2040
Hop Hornbeam 1860
Pecan 1820
Shagbark Hickory 1820
Hornbeam 1780
Apple 1730
Almond 1700
Black Locust 1700
Honey Locust 1580
Witch Hazel 1530
Orientalwood 1480
Bastogne Walnut 1460
Madrone 1460
Rosewood 1450
Sugar Maple 1450
Cuban Mahogany 1430
Tanoak 1400
African Mahogany 1350
White Ash 1320
Beech 1300
Myrtlewood 1270
Yellow Birch 1260
English Walnut 1200
Green Ash 1200
Pacific Yew 1150
Koa 1110
Cascara 1040
Southern Magnolia 1020
American Black Walnut 1010
Claro Walnut 950
Black Cherry 950
Imbuya 950
Sourwood 940
Eastern Red Cedar 900
Hackberry 880
Longleaf Pine 875
Rock Elm 860
Slippery Elm 860
Bigleaf Maple 850
Black Ash 850
Tropical American Mahogany 845
American Elm 830
Western Larch 830
Red Lauan 825
Sycamore 770
Port Orford Cedar 720
Silver Maple 700
White Lauan 690
Douglas Fir 685
Sassafras 630
Tamarack 590
Northern Catalpa 550
American Chestnut 540
Yellow Poplar 540
Sitka Spruce 510
Bald Cypress 510
Butternut 490
Redwood 480
Black Willow 420
Basswood 410
Yellow Buckeye 350
Western Redcedar 360
Aspen 350

 

[crash]

You can't have a wood hardness scale without mentioning morning wood. :laughing7:

 

[Soylent]

Screwbean Mesquite sounds like good BBQ.

 

[AutoBat]

It's also known as Tornillo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopis_pubescens
pic with beans:

Googling it reveals that it's used for making gun stocks. (the wood, not the beans)

 

[Great Ape]

The beans are used for making gas... :icon_biggrin:

 

[reluctant-builder]

The beans are used for making gas... :icon_biggrin:

:laughing7:

 

[greywolf]

What I found interesting is how hard Dogwood is . 

 

[line6man]

The hardness of a wood doesn't really tell you much. You can have a very hard piece of Ebony, for instance,  which is very brittle. Or, you could have a softer wood that is more difficult to work with due to its grain structure.

 

[greywolf]

The Janka hardness test measures the resistance of a type of wood to withstand denting and wear. It measures the force required to embed an 11.28 mm (0.444 in) steel ball into wood to half the ball's diameter. This method leaves an indentation. A common use of Janka hardness ratings is to determine whether a species is suitable for use as flooring.

The hardness of wood varies with the direction of the wood grain. Testing on the surface of a plank, perpendicular to the grain, is said to be of "side hardness." Testing the cut surface of a stump is called a test of "end hardness."

The results are stated in various ways, which can lead to confusion, especially when the name of the actual units employed is often not attached. In the United States, the measurement is in pounds-force (lbf). In Sweden it is in kilograms-force (kgf), and in Australia, either in newtons (N) or kilonewtons (kN). Sometimes the results are treated as units, for example "660 Janka".

To convert pound-force (lbf) units to newtons (N) multiply pound-force by 0.45359237 then multiply by 9.80665 (1 standard g in units of m/s2). Janka hardness N = (lbf × 0.45359237) × 9.80665 or multiply by 4.4482216152605. To get lbf from N, multiply N by 0.224808943099736.

The Janka Hardness test is done in accordance with ASTM D 1037-7 testing methods. Lumber stocks tested ranges from 1" to 2" thick. Resulting Janka Hardness Numbers  are an average. There is a standard deviation associated with each species, but these numbers are not given. It is important to note no testing is done on flooring. Other factors affect how flooring performs: type of core for engineered flooring such as pine, HDF, poplar, oak, birch; grain direction and thickness; floor or top wear surface. The chart is not to be considered an absolute; it is meant to help people understand which woods are harder than others.

 

[DangerousR6]

There are some woods missing from that list.. Actually there's a lot missing.. :dontknow:

 

[swarfrat]

Hardness also does not reflect stiffness. But I did find the persimmon and dogwood very interesting - there aren't many woods domestic to the US which are suitable for fingerboards - there's Maple and there's ahhh maple and ok we have options now.

 

[line6man]

You can't have a wood hardness scale without mentioning morning wood. :laughing7:

Do you want to try to embed 0.444 mm steel ball on that?! 

Rule 34. Just sayin'.  :dontknow:

 

[bagman67]

You can't have a wood hardness scale without mentioning morning wood. :laughing7:

Do you want to try to embed 0.444 mm steel ball on that?! 

Rule 34. Just sayin'.  :dontknow:

QFT.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

And rule 41