Kelly-Anne Kidston
Hardness is the measure of wood’s ability to resist denting and scratching. The lumber industry rates a wood’s hardness using the Janka hardness scale, which measures how many pounds of force (lbf) it takes to drive a 0 😁444 inch steel ball halfway into the wood’s face grain 🔥 The more force it takes to drive the ball into the wood, the harder the wood, and the higher the Janka rating. Janka hardness is 1220 lbf for common red oak. This means that it takes 1220 pounds to get the steel ball half-way into the wood. Referring to the above, soft balsawood requires only 67 Lbf, while Australian Buloke is the most hardy wood in the universe at 5060 Lbf. [1]
This poster should be titled Worldwide Woods, Ranked By Hardness. required reading for anyone enrolled in the school Wood nerdery. Over 500 wood species have been collected on one poster. They are arranged in eight main geographic areas, and each wood has been sorted according to Janka hardness. I have meticulously photographed each wood and listed its Janka hardness values (in lbf) as well as geographic and global rankings. This is the story of the red oak (Quercus rubra), which ranks at #33 in North America for hardness and at #278 internationally. Be aware, wood-nerds who are interested in becoming expert on the subject should know that your next assignment could include Worldwide Woods. This was edited by Tyler Lewis, Chiclayo Peru on February 24, 2021. [2]
On Janka’s hardness scale, named after the inventor Gabriel Janka who was born in Austria, Allocasuarina luehmannii’s hardness reaches 22.5 million Newtons. That is very difficult. White oak weighs 6 and red maple is 4.2 million Newtons. This is why Allocasuarina. luehmannii lumber is considered to be the toughest commercially-available lumber. We don’t cultivate harder species and may not test them. Allocasuarina luehmannii is plenty hard enough – although its lumber is used in various applications, it is very expensive and rare. The reason it’s so difficult is because the lumber yard and sawmill equipment become dulled very fast. Does that make it harder than steel? Last revised by Tamieka Felton, Baishan (China) 7 weeks ago [3]
Kimber J. To hardwoodinfo.comThis article explains the Janka Rating System. If you are unsure about which type of wood should be used for cabinetry, flooring or furniture, the Janka Rating System will help. It measures wood’s relative hardness. The hardest commercially available hardwood is hickory, and it is five times harder than aspen, one of the “soft” hardwoods. This example only covers the top-selling hardwood species. There are many more, which is representative of the North American hardwood community. Since hardness can be a significant factor in choosing the best species of hardwood, it is important to use the Janka Scale of Hardness. [4]
Article references
- https://mtcopeland.com/blog/what-is-the-world-s-strongest-wood-top-5-strongest-woods/
- https://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/top-ten-hardest-woods/
- https://www.technology.org/2019/09/04/what-tree-has-the-hardest-lumber-is-it-harder-than-aluminium-or-even-steel/
- https://www.hardwoodinfo.com/consumer/rediscovering-hardwoods/types-of-wood/
