Janka Hardness Scale

What, so called, hardwoods are the hardest and what are the softest? How do they test wood hardness? What does this mean for the durability of my floor?

All great questions. Lets start with how hardness is measured. The Janka hardness scale tells us a specific hardness number for each type of wood. The higher the number the harder and more durable the wood will be for your floors. This number is determined by measuring the pressure needed in pounds per square inch(psi) to sink half the diameter of a .444 inch steel ball into a plank of whatever wood we are measuring.

Scroll down for a huge list of woods and their hardness scale number...