![]() ![]() One of the most notable characteristics of this wood is the results of a heavy resin that is prevalent in most planks - what will happen is that if you allow the cutting edge to over-heat the wood, the resin will cause the overheated area to turn a purple so deep it is almost black. To see the complete series, click here: purpleheart exposure series Note that "exposure" for purpleheart very much includes air as well as light, and my cover for the left side is loose so the split between exposed and unexposed is vague. The first pic shows the raw baseline and the 2nd pic shows the exposure after one month. Over time, with exposure, it will take on the same purple now shown in the outer faces.Īn exposure series - both sides are raw, freshly sanded, and half covered and the rest exposed to light. ![]() As you can see, both outer faces, having been long exposed to light and air, are nicely purple but the freshly cut inside is much duller and in fact in natural light it looks quite dull. The first level of enlargement seems to show it even better.īoth faces and a middle section of a 3/4" thick stick that I ripped to produce 3 roughly 1/4" thins - HUGE enlargements are present. The side on the right, which is the side that was exposed, shows clearly how this wood can be enriched by exposure to sunlight. The details of the turning with comments about the colors are at the bottom of this page, along with enlargements of all views.Ī veneer sheet that was half covered and then left exposed to direct sunlight for about an hour a day for a week (and indirect sunlight for the rest of the day). NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K)Ĭolors will vary under other lighting conditionsĪ turning showing 2 pics, each with 2 views taken 9 years apart and put here to show the darkening with age. i didn't get as brilliant a hue, but it definitely doesn't look like Mahogany now! ![]() This did a nice job or restoring a piece of Purpleheart that got left out too long and had started browning out. The grain didn't raise too much! After sanding, I sealed the wood with a water-white lacquer, which brought out the depth of the grain beautifully, A coat of water-based poly over that, brought the color back to the glorious violet hue that the wood is so famous for, without coloring the finish. I used regular vinegar, because I didn't want a raspberry red shade, and it did seem to hasten the purple-ising of the wood. Here's what my solution turned out to be Somewhere I read a tip that an application of diluted Muriatic acid would bring up a bright hot color. Oilīased Poly brought up the red, while water-based poly pulled a bluish grey color right out of the wood into the finish, obscuring the grain considerably, I attribute this to the alcohol solvent, but I haven't done any further experimentation. I had a helluva time restoring that color when I finished the wood. This wood changed to that fleshy mauve that is typical of un oxidised purpleheart over a period of a couple of months. I bought a big plank of the stuff and it was amazingly purple, even fresh cut, and it smelled like vinegar. Like Eric, I can't figure it out either except to generically attribute it to the fact that there are quite a number of species that share the common name purpleheart, and there are varied growing conditions.Ĭorrespondent Shawn Longino reports: I wanted to give you some feedback about Purpleheart. I've sent a totally brown piece through the planer and it's come out purple.and I've sent a very purple piece through and it's come out brown. We have some incredibly purple - like clownishly purple - boards come into the yard sometimes, and after a couple months some of them will begin to turn brown and others will stay purple. Yeah purpleheart is weird stuff.I've seen it go both ways. This is from Eric, a moderator on The WoodTalk Forum: The best description I've seen of the brown/purple colors in purpleheart. Sometimes seemingly marginal parenchyma is present and the degree of confluence joining the pores varies a fair amount. (at least 20 species)ĥ" x 5" flat cut, 5" x 5" quartersawn, 1" wide end grain, and a 1/4" x 1/4" end grain closeup.ĭiffuse porous with fairly large sparse pores having lozenge shaped aliform parenchyma and vague growth ring boundaries. The REST of the pictures on this page will give you a better overall feel for this wood NOTE: there is rarely any "standard" or "typical" look for a wood so take what's in this table with a grain of salt Purpleheart open main page for all woods open page 2 for articles ![]()
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