Working With Purpleheart

[Tom Wakeley]

Hello Everyone,
I am very new to turning, about 200 pens, a few weedpots, a few woodscapes and a few flowers. I just bought a purpleheart board that is decidedly purple. I cut some pen blanks and turned two pens. The first I finished with Mylands and it doesn't look purple at all although a very close look shows a slight purple cast. The second I finished with CA and while it was somewhat more purple I didn't like it and sanded the CA off. I then polished one barrel with coarse compound, white compound and wax. The other barrel I polished with just coarse compound and waxed it. The barrel with just the coarse compound and wax is much closer to purple but still a long way off. I would like to have the pens purple. Can anyone tell me how to turn the barrels back to purple? Should I wipe the barrels down with something before finishing them? What is an appropriate finish?

Thanks,
Tom

[curtis rosche]

purple heart is a weird wood i had some buried in my bag that turned brown and i had some that sat in the sun that turned purple and stayed. my brother made a gun case that he sprayed with the uv stuff for car tires then urethaned it that then stayed deep purple. i also made a bowl out of it that all i did was friction polish it and it stayed pruple. you may have to play with it to see what makes it turn and stay. its something with the light

[Lance Norris]

I use waterbased. Minwax Polycrylic darkens purpleheart some, but it stays purple. When you use an oil based finish, it turns a deep purpleish-red.

[Greg Cuetara]

Purpleheart has some unique qualities. It turns purple due to the UV rays I believe or the sunlight or both. I have turned a few purpleheart pens and the wood is purple before hand then I turn and finish the pen and it looks brown with a slight hint of purple. With the pens that I have turned I took them and put them into the sun for a few days and the purple came back out to the color that I was looking for. Be careful because I gather that if you leave it in the sun too long or bring it back out into the sun it will go back to a brownish from the purple. I am sure others on here can chime in with exactly what works. I know this subject was discussed a few months back so you may want to try using the search feature to find other threads on the topic.

Good Luck and let us know how they turn out.
Greg

[Robert McGowen]

Hi Tom,

Turn the pens, place in sunny area for a day. Wait about 48 hours and then finish. The wood should be as purple as what you started with. Good luck!

[Jon Lanier]

I have found that after I turn the purple heart while on the lathe that, heating it up, works well. I just put my heat gun on the blanks until they turn a dark purple, rotating them on the lathe as I go.

[Brian Brown]

Tom,

Check this thread. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=78795. I think UV exposure and exposure to oxygen both have an effect on turning the wood purple. Heat seems to play a part too. There are at least 3 species of wood that are sold as purpleheart. Some seem to retain their color better than others. Don't know how to tell you to get one over the others though.

[Steve knight]

if it turns a lighter purple when you cut it then it will stay purple. if you use a oil finish or even oil on it it will turn purple again pretty fast.

[Tom Wakeley]

I went to the shop planning to play with finishes for the purpleheart. I chucked one of my freshly cut pen blanks and noticed that where the bandsaw blade had caused some friction there were dark purple stripes. I inferred heat caused the color change. I turned the blank into a cylinder, cut a strip out of a paper bag and held the bag against the wood. Sure enough the color changed back to purple. The hotter I made the wood with the friction of the bag the darker it became. I then turned all the new purple out of the wood so that it was again brown. I heated it with my MAAP gas torch and instant dark purple. I suspect a heat gun or hair dryer would give better control over color than MAAP gas.

I was pretty bummed, now I am happy again. Thank you to all.

Tom