Wood Species

Name	Wood	Janka Rating
Kambala		1540

Kambala
Chlorophora excelsa

Also known as: Abang, Iroko, Lusagna, Moreira, Molundu, Odum, Semli

Origin: Tropical Africa

Appearance:

The sapwood of kambala is yellowish-white, while the heartwood is golden orange into brown in color. The species has an interlocked grain, is moderately lustrous, and is moderately coarse yet even in texture.

Resistance, Durability:

Kambala has a natural resistance to decay. Its sapwood has been reported as being highly resistant to termites. Kambala dries very easily, with very little to no decay from its proportions as a green wood.

Janka Hardness: 1540

As a flooring choice, kambala is a more hearty and durable wood. It is slightly harder than hard maple, is roughly twenty percent harder than red oak, about twenty-five percent harder than heart pine, and is close to sixty five percent as hard as Brazilian cherry's ranking of 2350.

Workability:

Kambala puts up little resistance to sawing, yet deposits in the wood can dull cutting blades. This species has good nailing properties. Glue holds well with kambala flooring, but certain varieties can produce a noticeable glue line. Although it requires a decent amount of filling at times, kambala sands to a beautifully lustrous polish.

Main Uses:

Kambala's uses include flooring, millwork, sub-flooring, fine furniture, interior trim, and boat 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.