Wood Species

Name	Wood	Janka Rating
Eucalyptus		1125

Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus grandis

Also known as: Flooded gum, Rose gum, Scrub gum

Origin: Australia

Appearance:

The sapwood of Brazilian eucalyptus is light brown while the heartwood ranges from pale pinkish to reddish brown. The species has a prominent, straight and interlocked grain. Brazilian eucalyptus has a somewhat coarse and uniform texture.

Resistance, Durability:

Brazilian eucalyptus's sapwood has a natural resistance to borers. The species has a moderate natural resistance to decay and the wood remains smooth under friction. Brazilian eucalyptus should be carefully dried to prevent checking in the wood.

Janka Hardness: 1125

As a flooring choice, Brazilian eucalyptus is somewhat softer of a wood. It is nearly two percent as harder than makore, a little over eleven percent harder than black walnut, is just over eighty-seven percent as hard as red oak, and only slightly over fifty-one percent as hard as santos mahogany's ranking of 2200.

Workability:

Brazilian eucalyptus is not overly difficult to saw properly. This takes both nailing and gluing well. The wood accepts stain and paint well, and polishes to a quality finish.

Main Uses:

Some of Brazilian eucalyptus's uses include flooring, moldings, joinery, boat building, furniture, and joinery.

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.