Janka Hardness

This number is incredibly useful in directly determining how well a wood will withstand dents, dings, and wear—as well as indirectly predicting the difficulty in nailing, screwing, sanding, or sawing a given wood species.

Janka hardness testing
Janka hardness testing

The actual number listed in the wood profile is the amount of pounds-force (lbf) or newtons (N) required to imbed a .444″ (11.28 mm) diameter steel ball into the wood to half the ball’s diameter. This number is given for wood that has been dried to a 12% moisture content, unless otherwise noted.

For reference, white oak has a Janka hardness of 1,350 lbf (5,990 N), while the super-hard lignum vitae has a hardness of an astounding 4,390 lbf (19,510 N). (Who could imagine a wood species that is over three times harder than white oak?) On the lower end of the spectrum, basswood has a hardness of around 410 lbf (1,820 N).

hardness

Also, in some instances (where noted), I’ve estimated the Janka hardness value using equations that use the wood’s basic specific gravity, as found in the paper, “Estimating Janka Hardness from Specific Gravity for Tropical and Temperate Species.”

Related Articles:

Are you an aspiring wood nerd?

The poster, Worldwide Woods, Ranked by Hardness, should be required reading for anyone enrolled in the school of wood nerdery. I have amassed over 500 wood species on a single poster, arranged into eight major geographic regions, with each wood sorted and ranked according to its Janka hardness. Each wood has been meticulously documented and photographed, listed with its Janka hardness value (in lbf) and geographic and global hardness rankings. Consider this: the venerable Red Oak (Quercus rubra) sits at only #33 in North America and #278 worldwide for hardness! Aspiring wood nerds be advised: your syllabus may be calling for Worldwide Woods as part of your next assignment!

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Heather Ann Lynn

I’m searching the internet for a club weapon replica from the Zelda game and can’t find it or anything like it. So, I’m researching to find the denser lighter woods. I’m willing to spend $300, but know I can get much cheaper like beech wood. I plan to whittle and use an electric wood burner and to oil it into a reasonable gift. Can you tell me how to best start the research side? That ‘would’ be amazing of you. Thanks so much for you’re time.

Yavuz

Hi do you know the name of this wood?is it from brazilia?

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Jade

Hi,

Do you have a filter where you can rank a select amount of woods by hardness?

Thank you,
Jade

Harry

I’ve worked a lot of Yew wood and although its a softwood it can seriously damage many hardwoods. Small sharp pieces were used by Vikings as nails to secure the longboat planks to the stem and stern, as they resisted saltwater better than steel (which the Vikings also developed for tolls and weaponry). So although a softwood, it can be driven through hardwood!. It is quite beautful, variagated, striking and extremely long lasting. It doesnt rot too easily either. We had 25mm quarter sawn planks laid up for 30 years in a country garage and there was no decay apart… Read more »

John Dave

Has anyone janka tested rhododendron?

John Dave

Weird. I have worked with rhododendron wood from my woods and it is much harder than every wood I have worked with, including olive.

Jim Robson

Out of curiosity do you know why they use that size of ball 0.444″ instead of say 0.5″

ALFRED

Anyone knows how “Tristaniopsis Decorticata” compare to the hardest trees in the world?
It’s super dense and black like ebony but a lot heavier.

Alfred

wow Thanks! ? are you collecting wood samples?

Alfred

I may have wood samples for free. I would like to see you complete your collection. Do you have an email?

Barry

Great article, thank you. I was given some Picoyo Maderas and it appears to be extremely dense and resinous. Has anyone done Janka hardness test on that material? If so or even if not, how could I acquire the information?

Barry Straughan

No, sorry. I can tell you it is a nut tree from Chile that the nuts are apparently very popular there.

Javier

The picoyo is the wood junction between the branch and the trunk of the tree of the Araucaria araucana, it is very high density wood. When the tree dies it degrades and they are exposed. Araucaria araucana is the hardiest species in the conifer genus Araucaria. It is a slow-growing and long-lived species, being able to exceed 1000 years.

Keith Gebhardt

I sent you an email, but here is the short version. I wonder if you could test ginkgo biloba for its janka rating. At almost 270 million years old, I’m surprised it’s not listed anywhere. There is no tree that has stood through glacier shifts, continental shifts, ice ages, dinosaurs, and even mankind. Definitely a worthy wood to be catalogued.

john r. grace

Based on the description I found at the address below, I suspect it’s not as hard as others.
https://www.canadianwoodworking.com/woods-know-ginkgo

Marci

I was wondering your thoughts on a butcher block counter. Where would you draw the line for the hardness? (Nobody likes dings and dents all over their counters) Also, when will this become available again?

Pine Guy

So, this would measure the ability of a wood be bulletproof?

Peter

No, just the LBF needed to Imbed the .444 inch steel ball 11.28 millimeters into the wood

Bill Wells

The Janka test measures the force (LBF) required to embed the .444″ ball halfway into the wood. So that would be a distance of .222″, or 5.64 mm.

Ramon Alvarez

What size pieces are needed to run a Janka test and where can these tests be carried out?

Muzzled ?????? ?????????

We are install solid wood/sand poly floor in a new home with a full basement, what vapor barrier should we use

stephensaugnier

I had a question – At what measure of hardness is a wood classified as a hardwood or softwood? Is there a specific threshold?

stephensaugnier

That’s a great explanation Ejmeier. Thank you for clarifying. I had a query with regards to Douglas Fir wood. It has a Janka hardness of 660 lb which technically makes it a softwood but a lot of people vouch for its durability. So just wanted to check with you too..thoughts?

BPS

Douglas fir works out great for wood working benches. Having to hard of a surface on your bench can cause marks in your work. It is a question of whether you want the marks to show up on your new piece of work or on the work bench. Douglas fir provided a good stable surface to work on.

Antony Croft

Except lets say taxus baccata!

Richard L. Dillio

Im 70 converting from being a retired Tool Maker to some kind of wood worker. All of this is very interesting. some of this is like comparing austenitic to martensitic. Then you run into nickel its austenitic but acts like martensitic in many ways. I know Rockwell. I will learn Janka. I have measured Nickel hardness in Newtons. There must be a lot of woods harder than Nickel. If my teachings come to mind Hardness is defined by resistance to abrasion. This form of testing must equate to pounds of pressure to certain depth of penetration. Thanks Rich

Thomas M Dykstra

I have measured Nickel hardness in Newtons. There must be a lot of woods harder than Nickel”…
Interesting idea, Rich! You kind of baited a “hook” for those of us that love to work with a lot of different materials (metal, stone, wood, bone, horn, etc).
So,OK: Now that you’ve had a couple years to ease into wood, have you found an answer?
–Thom