If you’re looking to purchase hardwood flooring, you’re likely to run into something called the Janka Hardness Scale. The Janka Hardness Scale is used to measure the hardness of a wood. The higher a wood’s Janka rating, the harder - and generally more durable - the wood will be. (more…)

Softwood is a generic term used in woodworking and the lumber industries for wood from conifers, which are needle-bearing trees. Softwood producing trees include the likes of pine, spruce, cedar, fir, larch, Douglas fir, hemlock, cypress, redwood and yew.
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The term hardwood is used to describe wood from broad-leaved angiosperm trees, mostly deciduous, but not necessarily, as in the case of tropical trees. Hardwood contrasts with softwood in that softwoods come from conifer trees. Hardwood species are more varied than softwood. There are about a hundred times as many hardwood species as softwoods. (more…)

Completing the Janka hardness test creates a circular indention with an area of 100 square millimeters. This means that the testing is done on the surface of a plank, with the force exerted perpendicular to the grain.

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The Janka hardness scale is a great tool to use when considering your choice of hardwood flooring species. It is perhaps the most important test, as it measures the hardness of the wood species. More specifically, the Janka hardness test for hardwood flooring measures the force required to embed a .444 inch steel ball to half its diameter in the hardwood.

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