Wood Species

Name	Wood	Janka Rating
Brush Box		2135

Brush Box
Lophostemon confertus

Also known as: Pink Box, Scrub Box

Origin: Australia

Appearance:

The sapwood of brushbox is a pale grayish brown, while the heartwood ranges from a reddish to pinkish brown. The grain is curly & interlocked and the wood is even in texture. This species has a glossy appearance.

Resistance, Durability:

Brushbox is naturally resistant to termite attack and moderately resistant to decay. The wood is reported to have no noticeable odor. Brushbox requires some care in drying as warping or checking has been reported to occur when ample time is not taken for the process.

Janka Hardness: 2135

As a flooring choice, Brushbox is a hard and durable wood flooring species. It is just over one hundred and thirteen percent harder than teak, about forty-seven percent harder than hard maple, roughly twenty-four percent harder than African padauk, a little over seventeen percent harder than hickory or pecan, almost identical in hardness to pradoo's ranking of 2170, and is close to ninety-seven percent as hard as santos mahogany's ranking of 2200.

Workability:

Brushbox can be moderately difficult to saw properly. Nailing can be difficult in this species, and as such should be pre-bored before installation.

Main Uses:

Brushbox's uses include flooring, construction, and ship building.

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.