Table

Wood hardness finder, which wood for the job.

Thirty-four common woods and three sheet goods by Janka hardness, stiffness and weight, with how each one carves, burns, takes a screw and lives outdoors.

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					Carves	Notes
Aspen, quaking	350	1,557	1.18	27	Easy	Very soft and pale, little grain; carves easily but fuzzes
Cedar, western red	350	1,557	1.11	23	Easy	Very light, soft and rot-resistant; siding, planters, canoe paddles
Pine, eastern white	380	1,690	1.24	25	Easy	Soft, light, easy; knife handles and shelves, burns unevenly across the grain
Pine, sugar	380	1,690	1.19	25	Easy	Soft, straight and stable; pattern makers' wood
Fir, balsam	400	1,779	1.45	25	Easy	Light framing lumber; not a carving wood
Basswood	410	1,824	1.46	26	Easy	The carving and pyrography wood: soft, even, almost no grain
Cottonwood, eastern	430	1,913	1.37	28	Easy	Soft and light; cottonwood bark is a carving material of its own
Pine, ponderosa	460	2,046	1.29	28	Easy	Soft, even, cheap; a good practice wood
Redwood (old growth)	480	2,135	1.34	28	Easy	Rot-resistant and stable; decks and planters; second-growth is softer
Butternut	490	2,180	1.18	27	Easy	Soft, warm brown, carves like basswood with more figure
Spruce, Sitka	510	2,268	1.57	27	Moderate	Stiff for its weight; guitar tops, masts, ladders
Hemlock, western	540	2,402	1.63	29	Moderate	Framing and sheathing; splinters, dents easily
Yellow-poplar	540	2,402	1.58	29	Moderate	Cheap, soft, greenish; practice boards and painted shelves
Alder, red	590	2,624	1.38	28	Moderate	Soft, even, pale; a good green-wood spoon timber and a cheap furniture wood
Sassafras	630	2,802	1.12	32	Moderate	Soft, fragrant, fairly rot-resistant; carves well
Pine, southern yellow (loblolly)	690	3,069	1.79	36	Moderate	Hard for a pine, resinous; decks when treated, workbenches
Douglas-fir	710	3,158	1.95	34	Moderate	Stiff and strong for its weight; the construction timber, splintery to carve
Sycamore	770	3,425	1.42	34	Moderate	Fine, interlocked, no taste; kitchen spoons and boards
Mahogany, Honduras	800	3,558	1.50	34	Moderate	Stable, easy to work, takes a finish beautifully; imported
Elm, American	830	3,692	1.34	35	Moderate	Interlocked grain that will not split; chair seats, bowls
Cedar, eastern red (aromatic)	900	4,003	0.88	33	Moderate	Fragrant, knotty, rot-resistant; chests, posts, small carvings
Birch, paper	910	4,048	1.59	38	Moderate	Clean, pale, carves well green; spoons and cups
Cherry, black	950	4,226	1.49	35	Moderate	Firm, carves cleanly, darkens to red-brown; the classic furniture wood
Maple, red (soft maple)	950	4,226	1.64	38	Moderate	Softer than sugar maple, still hard; a good general hardwood
Teak approx.	1000	4,448	1.55	41	Hard	Oily and very rot-resistant; the boat and garden wood, expensive; imported
Walnut, black	1010	4,492	1.68	38	Hard	Dark, stable, carves cleanly for a hardwood; handles, boxes, furniture
Birch, yellow	1260	5,604	2.01	43	Hard	Stiff and strong; the birch in good plywood
Oak, red	1290	5,738	1.82	44	Hard	Hard, open-grained, strong; not for outdoors, the pores wick water
Beech, American	1300	5,782	1.72	45	Hard	Hard, fine, bends well; kitchen tools, workbenches
Ash, white	1320	5,871	1.74	42	Hard	Tough and springy; tool handles, bows, chairs
Oak, white	1360	6,049	1.78	47	Hard	Hard and rot-resistant; boats, barrels, outdoor furniture
Maple, sugar (hard maple)	1450	6,450	1.83	44	Hard	Hard, bright and smooth; cutting boards, floors, fine lettering under the burner
Black locust	1700	7,562	2.05	48	Hard	Very hard and rot-resistant; fence posts, outdoor furniture, bows
Hickory, shagbark	1880	8,362	2.16	50	Hard	The strongest common American wood; handles, bows, ladder rungs
Baltic birch plywood approx.	-	-	1.50	42	Not for carving	Void-free, stiff in both directions; the best sheet for shelves
MDF approx.	-	-	0.50	46	Not for carving	Flat and cheap, sags under its own weight on long spans
Particleboard approx.	-	-	0.40	40	Not for carving	The weakest shelf material; keep spans short

How to read the table

Hardness is the Janka test: the force needed to push a steel ball of 0.444 inch diameter halfway into the side of the wood. It predicts how a wood resists dents and wear, and for a carver it predicts how hard the knife has to work. Anything under about 500 lbf carves easily green or dry; 500 to 950 carves well green and takes effort dry; above that is furniture territory.

Stiffness is the modulus of elasticity in millions of pounds per square inch, the number the shelf sag calculator uses. Stiffer wood bends less under the same load; hickory and yellow birch are about twice as stiff as western red cedar.

Weight is the density at 12 percent moisture, roughly the state of wood indoors. A cubic foot of basswood weighs 26 lb; the same block of hickory weighs 50.

Three rules of thumb

For whittling and spoon carving, start under 500 lbf and carve green: basswood, butternut, aspen, white pine, poplar, then birch and cherry once the knife is sharp.
For pyrography, even-grained pale woods burn cleanly: basswood, birch, poplar, maple. Pine's alternating soft and hard bands flare and scorch. Never burn plywood, MDF or treated wood.
For anything outdoors, hardness matters less than rot resistance: white oak, black locust, western red cedar, redwood and teak last; red oak and maple do not.

Figures are rounded from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory Wood Handbook (2010 edition, chapter 5) at 12 percent moisture content; individual boards vary by a fair margin. Sheet goods are typical values and differ between manufacturers.

Hobbies that use this

Whittling$52 to start Pyrography$54 to start Traditional archery$231 to start Linocut printing$56 to start

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