Wood Hardness

Relative Hardness (Janka Scale)

The relative hardness of a wood refers to the force required to insert a .444 inch steel ball to half of its diameter into a piece of wood. Brazilian cherry is more than twice as hard as black walnut which means Brazilian cherry is more than twice as resistant to dings and scratches, it also means that it is twice as hard to cut. Though Brazilian Cherry and Santos Mahogany are hard the oily nature and straight grain make them relatively easy to machine. Carbide tipped blades and large horsepower modern tools allow carpenters to easily work with exotic woods.

To see what many of these wood types look like, visit our Wood Selection page.