Hardest Wood Flooring Janka Scale

It measures the force required to embed an 11 28 millimetres 0 444 in diameter steel ball halfway into a sample of wood.

Hardest wood flooring janka scale.

The janka hardness test from the austrian born emigrant gabriel janka 1864 1932 measures the resistance of a sample of wood to denting and wear. The diameter was chosen to produce a circle with an area of 100 square millimeters. 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. 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 test was developed as a variation of the brinell hardness test. Woods with a higher rating are harder than woods with a lower rating. Though no wood on the scale has this rating a rating like this would not make for a good floor. 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. This test is one of the best measures of the ability of a wood specie to withstand denting and wear. The janka hardness scale starts at zero with this option being the softest wood choice making it easy to dent and scratch. The hardness of a wood is rated on an industry wide standard known as the janka test.