Wood Species

Name	Wood	Janka Rating
Cypress, Australian		1375

Cypress
Callitris glauca

Also known as: Cypress-Pine, Murray Pine, Murray River Cypress, Murray River Pine

Origin: New South Wales and Queensland, Australia

Appearance:

There is a high degree of color variability in Australian cypress, as the sapwood can be cream- or straw-colored, while the heartwood ranges from honey-gold to brown, with darker knots throughout to add character. For a warm, rustic, "country" look, Australian cypress is an excellent choice. Over time there may be some slight ambering or muting of color tones. It has a fine, lustrous texture with a typically straight grain. The wood has an aromatic camphor-like odor.

Resistance, Durability:

This species grows in a semi-arid area of Australia, which bestows on it the unique property of being the only commercial softwood that is actually harder than red oak — making it superior for both residential and commercial use. Because of its relative hardness and excellent durability, Australian cypress wood flooring has very good dimensional stability; however, in actual installations, significant movement can sometimes be seen.

Janka Hardness: 1375

As a flooring choice, Australian cypress is thirty-seven percent harder than teak, just slightly harder than white oak (one percent), five percent softer than hard maple, twenty-eight percent softer than jarrah, and about sixty-two percent as hard as santos mahogany's ranking of 2200.

Workability:

While Australian cypress has good sanding and machining qualities, it can be brittle, so care must be taken when nailing.

Main Uses:

This wood is most often used in light construction, such as flooring, siding, and joinery, as well as in decorative veneers and furniture components.

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.