Purpleheart bleeding into substructure

[Don Morris]

First time using purpleheart, and not much experience in finishing although I have Bob Flexner's and Teri Masaschi's books. I'm building an archery bow rack. The two vertical panels are cherry and the brackets are purpleheart because the long bow and recurve bows I have both have purpleheart in them and I thought picking up the purpleheart in the rack would be a nice feature. I intend to use varnish (most often recommended finish for purpleheart) to finish the rack but have seen at least one reference where the purpleheart bled into a wood substructure. Anyone have any comments about this? Some kind of sealant first...like shellac, then varnish, can I do that, should I do that, is it necessary? Thanks for any advice.

Don M

[Steve Schoene]

I haven't used purple heart so I don't know for sure, but there is very little harm or effort to put a coat or two of shellac on first.

[Kyle Stiefel]

First time using purpleheart, and not much experience in finishing although I have Bob Flexner's and Teri Masaschi's books. I'm building an archery bow rack. The two vertical panels are cherry and the brackets are purpleheart because the long bow and recurve bows I have both have purpleheart in them and I thought picking up the purpleheart in the rack would be a nice feature. I intend to use varnish (most often recommended finish for purpleheart) to finish the rack but have seen at least one reference where the purpleheart bled into a wood substructure. Anyone have any comments about this? Some kind of sealant first...like shellac, then varnish, can I do that, should I do that, is it necessary? Thanks for any advice.

Don M

Hello,

I hope all is well out there in Maryland. I have recently finished a couple of project with purpleheart and a contrasting wood. I think some of the areas of concern with the purpleheart and a contrasting wood has to do with the darker purpleheart dust getting into the contrasting wood (possibly an open grain wood). That is some of the input I had recieved prior to do some of the work with the purpleheart. I didn't have any problems. Like everybody says it doesn't seem like you ever go wrong sealing with shellac first.

Have fun.
Kyle

[Les Schlanger]

Don,
The biggest potential problem with purpleheart is the darkening or "browning" of the purpleheart. I was told to avoid mineral spirits, and oil based finishes. I finish with a water based poly, after raising the grain with distilled water. As stated by others, a sealer coat with dewaxed shellac can't hurt. Good luck!!
Les Schlanger

[Mark Stewart]

I have used tung oil and have used polyurethane with good results. However, both darkened the wood somewhat but not enough to worry about on my projects. If you want to keep the light color of the purple heart, dont use either of these.

[Christof Grohs]

Don

I've delt with the same problem using Purpleheart, Bloodwood, Padauk, etc.. together with light woods in hardwood floor borders. These days when I use a "bleeding" wood next to a light wood like Holly, Maple or Ash I sand the work piece, blow it off with compressed air and apply a coat of Sealcoat (dewaxed shellac), lightly knock the grain down with 220, hit again with compressed air before top coating and follow with H20 or oil finishes...no more bleeding borders.