Purple Heart as Cabinet Makers Bench top

[Lyndon Graham]

I am thinking of layers my upcoming benchtop purpleheart/maple/...

Purple heart (PH) and maple are about the same cost (PH is actually a little cheaper) and the combination looks cool.

After making 3 PH end grain cutting boards, It seems to me it cuts better than maple and is harder than maple

Any negatives I am not aware of with this plan?

Thanks

[Tim Sgrazzutti]

One drawback would be whether your eyes could handle looking at the pattern when working at it for extended periods. The other one is whether it would be too dark. Most workbench tops are made from light colored woods, because a dark top makes it seem like you're working in a badly lit room. That's just my opinion, though.

On the other hand, using PH for the base, and accents (vise jaws, aprons, bench dogs, etc.......) would look pretty cool, IMO.

[Doug Shepard]

I used it on the vise jaws and edges of my bench for pretty much the same reason. It was cheaper that most other domestic stuff plus I wanted something darker.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=83328
It does shed splinters at the drop of a hat so keep the tweezers handy.

[David Keller NC]

Lyndon - One thing to consider is how you're going to flatten the bench top. Purple heart, as I'm sure you know from working it, is incredibly hard, though not quite as hard as rosewood. It's tough to plane, so flattening a benchtop with a jointer plane could be tough going. If, however, you've access to a drum or wide belt sander (or a 24" planer), it'd be no big deal.

It'll certainly be heavy enough not to scoot across the floor when you're planing something!

[Rich Marzec]

Pick whatever you like. The purplehart is beautifull stuff. Both would make a bench top that would be difficult to flatten. I built mine out of hard maple, and if I built it again I would use soft maple.

[Rick Fisher]

Is purple heart one of those wood's that make you sick? I know that once sealed, its all good.. Just curious..

[Stephen Edwards]

Is purple heart one of those wood's that make you sick? I know that once sealed, its all good.. Just curious..

It makes me sick when a piece doesn't turn purple after exposure to the air and light within 3-4 days of being milled! Some of it seems to be more brown than purple. Then, other pieces are bright purple. I don't understand it.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Someone built a bench out of purple heart, which Fine Woodworking printed a photo of a few years back. Can't find the issue, but it was quite a bench. My least favorite thing about purple heart is the danged spliters. Look at it wrong, and instantly you get a foot long hunk of log under your thumb nail...:mad: Pretty stuff though.

[Thomas Knighton]

Purpleheart makes great accents on a workbench though, so there's that going for it ;)

Tom

[Tim Cross]

I too am building a benchtop out of purpleheart that I got for a steal. I tried to glue the 2"x3" strips together using West System epoxy and after a week the joints are letting go. The material has air dried for 3 years and I took the precaution of wiping down the pieces with acetone. Did I use the wrong glue? I live in the pacific northwest and the material was dried to about 12%.

[Chuck Tringo]

heh indeed, I think I still have a PH splinter in my right hand from a few weeks ago...thought I got it but the area felt a little tender yesterday...


Someone built a bench out of purple heart, which Fine Woodworking printed a photo of a few years back. Can't find the issue, but it was quite a bench. My least favorite thing about purple heart is the danged spliters. Look at it wrong, and instantly you get a foot long hunk of log under your thumb nail...:mad: Pretty stuff though.

[Doug Shepard]

I too am building a benchtop out of purpleheart that I got for a steal. I tried to glue the 2"x3" strips together using West System epoxy and after a week the joints are letting go. The material has air dried for 3 years and I took the precaution of wiping down the pieces with acetone. Did I use the wrong glue? I live in the pacific northwest and the material was dried to about 12%.

Did you have to reef down on the clamps to get the joint to close up maybe? I used West when I was doing my bench and didnt have any problem with the purpleheart. Did you do the pre-wetting step, then add filler to thicken it and spread that on one side? Not an epoxy expert but I've been following that method in West's manual for everything with zero issues. The PH glues up fine with Titebond too but just doesn't have as much open time so you can't do as much at one time.

[Doug Shepard]

Tim
I forgot to ask which hardener you used and what were the temps while it was curing?

[Tim Cross]

Yes, I did the pre wetting steps and worked in the heated part of my basement at about 60-65 degrees. I talked to my supllier and was told that I probably used too much clamping pressure and starved the joints of epoxy. I did crank the clamps down pretty hard. Supplier said that you can't expect to drive epoxy glue into the wood fibres as you can with PVA glue. He suggested that I use an epoxy called G2 and use much less clamp pressure. The fit was very tight to begin with. Just bought a Grizzly 8 inch GO586 with Byrd Head. Interesting that you say Titebond works well on purple heart. I have read that in other links since I joined the forum after my glue up disaster. My apologies for highjacking this thread, I probably should have posted this as a new topic. Newcomers mistake. It seems there are a great bunch of people in this forum and very respectful of one another.

[Dave Cav]

We used to have a big stash of purpleheart in the school shop wood storage that the previous shop teacher got a great deal on. It's almost all gone, thank goodness. We used it mostly for cutting boards, alternating it with alder or maple. The only glue we ever use is regular generic yellow woodworking glue, and we haven't had any problems with the glue joints letting go that I know of, and the students are pretty haphazard with their gluing and clamping techniques.

Purpleheart would be good for accents and things like vise faces, as several mentioned. It's very hard on saw blades and planer and jointer knives (one reason I'm glad it's about gone), and like others said, the splinters are horrible. Every time I handled a piece I got at least one splinter. At least the splinters are easy to see.