Wood Species

Name	Wood	Janka Rating
Hemlock		500

Hemlock
Tsuga canadensis

Also known as: Eastern hemlock, Canada hemlock, Hemlock spruce

Origin: Canada and the United States

Appearance:

The heartwood and sapwood of hemlock are both light brown with red tinges. The species has an uneven, commonly twisted grain and is medium to coarse in texture.

Resistance, Durability:

Treatment of the wood of some sort is advised as hemlock has little natural resistance to decay. The wood is reported to have a somewhat sour odor when green. Hemlock is difficult to dry properly, as warping is known to occur.

Janka Hardness: 500

Although it is reported to be one of the hardest softwoods, as a flooring option hemlock is one of the least hard and durable woods. It is roughly three quarters as hard as douglas fir, forty percent as hard as red oak, and about thirty-five percent as hard as hard maple.

Workability:

Hemlock is somewhat difficult to saw properly. Nailing can be difficult as splitting occasionally occurs in the process. Glue holds well with hemlock flooring. This species sands fairly well but does mar somewhat easily under heavy traffic.

Main Uses:

Hemlock's uses include flooring, flooring accents, framing, pulpwood, and roofing shingles.

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.