What is hardness?

Q: What is hardness?
A: Hardness ratings for hardwood floors vary from country to country, but the most common test is known as Janka Hardness Rating. This test measures the force required to push a steel ball into the wood up to half the diameter of the ball. This ball is 11.28 millimeters, meaning the force measured is to push this ball 5.64 millimeters into the wood. Essentially this measures a wood’s density and thus its dent resistance. White oak which is one of the most common woods used in flooring has a hardness of 1360 on the Janka scale.
A good way to gauge the dent resistance of a wood is to determine how it rates when compared to white oak. If the floor is much harder than white oak, such as Brazilian Walnut (also called Ipe) which rates at an amazing 3680 is far more dent resistant than white oak, where American cherry rates at 950, making it softer than white oak and more likely to dent.
To sum this up, hardness rating gauges the dent resistance of a wood floor. when looking at wood floors, if your worried about the floor being dented by foot traffic, find a floor with a higher hardness rating.