Wood Species

Name	Wood	Janka Rating
Beech		1300

Beech
Fagus grandifolia

Also known as: American beech

The European beech (fagus sylvatica) is widely used in furniture-making, as its light orangey-tan color, as well as its fine graining and small rays, offer a distinct contemporary look.

Origin: North American

Appearance:

While the sapwood is generally pale white, the heartwood of the American beech is mostly reddish brown. There is often a moderate to high color variation between boards. The grain of the wood is straight, and mostly closed, with a fine, uniform texture. This species is coarser than the European beech. Beech wood surfaces may sometimes have a silvery sheen.

Resistance, Durability:

Beech is frequently used in factory floors and other high-traffic areas, since it wears well and stays smooth when subjected to repeated friction. The wood is hard and elastic, with excellent shock-resistance.

Janka Hardness: 1300

As a flooring choice, American beech is thirty percent harder than teak, almost identical to red oak in hardness (under one percent), four percent softer than white oak, ten percent softer than hard maple, thirty-two percent softer than jarrah, and just over fifty-nine percent as hard as santos mahogany's ranking of 2200.

Workability:

Beechwood is difficult to work with hand tools, although it does have good machining qualities. It sands satisfactorily, and holds nails well. It does have a tendency to split.

Main Uses:

At one time, Beech was not regularly used as a resource because of the tendency of the wood to crack during air drying. Kiln drying is much more successful with this species, and so it has become more valuable. The wood is commonly used for domestic and commercial flooring, furniture, decorative veneers, and musical instruments.

What is a Janka Rating?

"It is one of the best measures of the ability of a wood species to withstand denting and wear. It is also a good indicator of how hard a species is to saw or nail.

The hardness of wood usually varies with the direction of the wood grain.

A common use of Janka hardness ratings is to determine whether a species is suitable for use as flooring."

Colored Bamboo

Some species have different janka ratings depending on how they have been treated.

Bamboo is one example of this. If left with a natural finish, Bamboo falls at 1380 on the hardness scale. If you carbonize it to get a darker color, the rank falls to 1180.