Purple heart

[Joe Hoffmann]

Would like to know if anyone has any sugestions on how to preserve the color of purple heart so it doesnt turn brown.

-- Thanks,

Joe

[Doug Miller]

IME, you don't have to do anything to it. All the purpleheart I've ever used has been brown when freshly cut, and turns a bright purple within a few days of exposure to the sun. Keeping it purple just isn't a problem.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

[Dave Balderstone]

I've got a Steve Knight plane made of purple heart... It's as purple now as it was 2.5 years ago.

djb

[Luigi Zanasi]

On Fri, 24 Oct 2003 01:41:36 GMT, spam [e-mail] (Doug Miller) scribbled

My experience has been different from Doug's. Like Doug says, it was brown when freshly cut, but turned purple in a dark, unheated (1) gar^H^H^H shop in a few days. Other pieces that exposed to indoor light also turned purple. Some scraps that were left on a window sill in my solarium turned brown on the side exposed to the sun & remained purple on the other side. Go figure??

Anyone with a real answer as to what makes purpleheart purple? What are the real variables: light, UV, air or oxygen, temperature, wood species?

I finished the purpleheart & poplar bookcase I made with exterior water-base poly (Sorry Larry, but I wanted the cold colour & UV protection). The colour hasn't changed detectably in the year is has been in my LOML's fluorescent lighted office.

Luigi Replace "no" with "yk" for real email address.

(1) This is not a wimpy southern "cold" like Silvan whines about -- this is a workshop in the Yukon winter, with temperatures going down to 40 below. ;-) Luigi Replace "no" with "yk" twice in reply address for real email address

[P van Rijckevorsel]

Luigi Zanasi schreef

• + + Actually the question at hand is, what makes the purple color break down? Or, on a practical note what will stop this breakdown.. Word is that the right finish will do this. Also, not exposing it to sunlight will help. PvR

PS. the wood is called "purpleheart" A "purple heart" also exist but is not store-bought.

[Traves W. Coppock]

On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 22:46:43 -0700, Luigi Zanasi Crawled out of the shop and said. . .:

snip

there are several species called PurpleHeart, all of them are purple at some point in the machining process. some of the stuff i have worked with is deep purple right after machining, and some is brown and gets purple after working it. some turns brown after time, and some gets more purple.

its a crap shoot, from what i have run into, as to what you are going to get when you buy it. . .

Traves