Wood Species

Name	Wood	Janka Rating
Highland Beech		1686

Highland Beech
Highland beech is the name used for a mixture of eucalyptus laevopinea, mullerana, andrewsii and related eucalyptus species.

Silvertop Stringybark (Eucalyptus laevopinea)
Yellow Stringybark (Eucalyptus mullerana)
New England Blackbutt (Eucalyptus andrewsii)

Origin: Australia

Appearance:

The coloration of this wood flooring option varies from a light tan to golden brown in appearance. This variety is commonly straight grained.

Resistance, Durability:

Highland beech should be stained and/or sealed to prevent against attack from boring insects. The product dries easily yet sometimes yields distortion in the graining from the process.

Janka Hardness: 1686

Highland beech is a hard and durable flooring choice. It is about ninety-eight percent as hard as African padauk, close to two thirds harder than black walnut, is roughly thirty percent harder than red oak, and close to seventy-six percent as hard as santos mahogany's ranking of 2200.

Workability:

Highland beech cuts rather cleanly and easily. This wood is easily nailed yet can occasionally split in the process. These species sand well and take a satisfactory stain.

Main Uses:

The uses for the species comprising this variety include flooring, joinery, and general construction.

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.