Welcome back to Premier Flooring Solutions’ Demystifying Wood Species blog series. We return this week again to talk about three more exotic wood species featured in our Nature’s Beauty product line—Jatoba, Kempas and Merbau.
Jatoba (botanical name: Hymenaea Courbaril—), also known as Brazilian Cherry, is one of the most popular wood species. Jatoba wood, like most exotic wood species, is known for its dense texture and its hardness. On the Janka scale, it rates 2,350, deeming it as one of the toughest and most durable wood species. Jatoba wood undergoes significant color changes over time, changing from a dark orange to a deepened reddish brown, as shown in the photograph above. Because of its susceptibility to color change, be sure to use blinds or curtains to limit the amount of sun exposure on Jatoba wood floors.
Kempas (botanical name: Koompassia Malaccensis) has an interwoven grain that sometimes makes spiraling patterns. Its Janka rating is 1,700, ranking it as one of the more durable wood species. Its sapwood is usually a very pale yellow, with a heartwood that ranges from orange to reddish-brown. Kempas wood resembles Jatoba, but differs in that it undergoes very little color change over time. It is also very similar to other species like Brazilian Cherry and Santos Mahogany, and is sometimes used instead of these exotic species.
And finally, we have Merbau (botanical name: Intsia Palembanica), a species from the Indonesia and Malaysian region. Merbau wood ranks 1,910 on the Janka scale, constituting it as another one of the hardest and most durable wood species. Merbau timber has a coarse texture, whose grain varies from straight patterns to wavy curves, and has a heartwood color of orange-brown which darkens to a reddish brown over time. One of the unique characteristics of merbau wood is an appearance of little gold flecks on the surface, which is due to the yellow deposits inside the wood’s pores. Merbau also has great resilience against termite attacks.
For more information about different wood species, continue following our blog as we cover some of the most common and not-so-common wood species used in hardwood flooring. To learn more about Nature’s Beauty or any of our other product lines, please visit our website at pfsfloors.com or call us directly at (800) 645-4546.
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