Hardwoods are better than softwoods.
Wood floor hardness.
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.
Relative hardness of wood flooring species.
Forest service list the relative hardness for numerous wood species used in flooring.
A common use of janka hardness ratings is to determine whether a species is suitable for use as flooring.
These ratings were done using the janka hardness test.
The scale used in the table is pounds force.
Below are listed the relative hardness for numerous wood species used in flooring.
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 janka test measures the amount of force required to embed a 0 444 steel ball into the wood to half of its diameter.
Woods with a higher rating are harder than woods with a lower rating.
The janka scale is used to determine the relative hardness of particular domestic or exotic wood species.
It measures the force required to embed an 11 28 millimetres 0 444 in diameter steel ball halfway into a sample of wood.
While the complete janka hardness listings will reveal that there are some fairly hard softwoods and some relatively soft hardwoods in the species most commonly used in flooring the identifiers hold true.