MAO....Mao bamboo is hollow inside and circular on the outside and the circular wall material is processed after the bamboo stalk has been split and the green/yellow rectangular part has been removed.

This process is important as density differs from the green to yellow part and the strips must bend after drying while the less dense part shrinks more unlike your traditional hardwoods.

There are more than over 1000 varieties of bamboo plants in the world, however Mao is one of hundreds not consumed by the Panda and has little to no environmental damage caused by its growing process and harvesting

Mao is also an excellent choice because of its diameter, colour, structure and strength making it very suitable for the production of our bamboo flooring and bamboo furniture board.

This kind of bamboo is very fast growing and can grow approximately 2-3 feet when sprouting in spring and its stalk height & diameter can reach maturity within six months.

However it is normally harvested at 5-6 years growth to produce our bamboo products we know today.

So How Much Harder is Bamboo Compared to Other Hardwoods?

Flooring Hardness Guide

Wandoo 15.0 (kn)

Compressed/Woven Bamboo Flooring 14.7 (kn)

Blackbutt 9.1 (kn)

Jarrah 8.5 (kn)

Marri 7.6 (kn)

Horizontal & Vertical Bamboo Flooring 6.0 (kn)

Tasmanian Oak 4.9 (kn)

Note: kn rates the relative hardness of a wood species.

The higher the number the harder the wood. These ratings were determined using the Janka Hardness Test which measures the side hardness measure of the force required to embed a 0.444 inch steel ball to half its diameter into the wood. This is one of the best measures of the ability of wood species to withstand denting and wear. It is also a good indicator of how hard a species is to saw or nail.