Personally I think the janka scale is a rough guide. I cut and mill quite a bit of South Texas hardwoods. post oak, live oak, pecan/hickory, mesquite, ironwood all, huisatche(an Acacia), Osage orange(Bodark) to name a few. There are variances between trees in hardness within the particular species. I prefer to cut/mill green as it's much easier on tooling. When left to dry some of these species get very very hard and take a sharp cutting edge to dull very quickly. The ironwood is the hardest I machine. With a sharp edge the finish is like a polished surface.
I find wood interesting and beautiful and love working with it. There are pros cons with all species of wood. Typical gunstock wood is in the middle of the road in hardness and is a little forgiving free of knots, tight grain and abundant and inexpensive.