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Thread: Turned my hands purple?

  1. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Mathews View Post
    But what about the odor mentioned before? I don't recall anything like it with walnut and oak.
    I've never experienced any "purple staining" when working with walnut or oak, but then I've never worked with them outside of an air conditioned environment, re sanding etc. (I don't like to work in an uncomfortable shop.) It's hard to diagnose an issue like this by remote sensing, it can (and should?) require a laying on of hands.

    A few options: if your local college or university has a forestry department, take a sample there and ask. Alternatively, go to your local library and check out a book by Bruce Hoadley called "Identifying Wood". Or buy it, it's a fun read.

  2. #17
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Mathews View Post
    But what about the odor mentioned before? I don't recall anything like it with walnut and oak.
    There are several species of walnut. I know of English, Claro, and Black. Surely a couple would smell differently.

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
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    Lancaster, PA
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    Whenever I work with red oak the tannic acid in the wood reacts with my sweat and turns my finger tips purple.

    Shawn

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Evanston, IL
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    Any woodturner who has worked with wet walnut can tell you about the way it stains your hands. Lemon juice removes the staining much better than repeated washing. Of course, oak and other woods can stain as well.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Roseville, MN
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    348
    Lemon juice will remove most of the purple. Although if you have any cuts on your hand....

  6. #21
    Yesterday I was working with a slab of delicious smelling white oak. Sometimes white oak smells rather caustic to me. Every tree is subject to different conditions and as such will have its own unique set of characteristics.

  7. #22
    Fyi, be careful when gluing and clamping woods that cause black staining. Iron, water, and tannins will react and cause deep staining in the wood.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Sydney, Australia
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    In the "old days" I used to use Hypo (the fixative used by photographers - Sodium Thiosulpate) to remove wood staining from skin. Hypo is harder to come by now days; pharmacies used to sell it as well as camera shops.

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
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    Northern Michigan
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    My father was a Weatherby dealer and a custom rifle maker. I spent many many hours as a kid final sanding walnut stocks, and my fingers got purple. Weatherby my have done some odd woods but walnut was all I ever saw. A lot of the woods mentioned are not stable enough for gun stocks. If the stock warps and pushes the barrel even a slight bit it will throw off the accuracy. there is a special tool for cleaning out the barrel bed when the stock warps by putting dye on the barrel and assembling and thus marking the stock. It was one of the things I was allowed to do. so I saw what worked and what kept coming back. walnut was very dependable.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
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    Michigan
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    Walnut is not hard as any rock. Purpleheart is never a mystery wood. Oak heartwood might be.

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
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    Western Nebraska
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    I always thought Weatherby used Claro walnut for their higher end stocks. I remember reading it somewhere anyhow, and the ones I've been around gave no reason to doubt it.

  12. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Bender View Post
    Walnut is not hard as any rock. Purpleheart is never a mystery wood. Oak heartwood might be.
    Purpleheart is a mystery wood if you're unfamiliar with its oxidized state (turns a lovely shade of brown with age.) How deep into the wood this goes and over what time frame is for someone else to answer, as I've never tried to reclaim it, and antiques made from it in the US are probably rare.

  13. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Coers View Post
    Color of the wood has nothing to do with it. I think it's the tannic acid in oak that does it. My hands always turn purple. A little lemon juice clears my hands right up.

    +1 on the lemon juice suggestion. I no longer worry about working with tannic woods anymore because lemon juice works so well. Stains disappear almost like magic...

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