Brown Purple Heart?

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LL Woodworks

LL Woodworks

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May 4, 2011
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I'm working with some beautiful old purple heart that is a deep beautiful purple. However when I sand or machine it it takes on a brownish look. Will the original purple return over time or after exposed to sunlight?

Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving to all.
 
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PSNCO said:
If you expose it to sun/heat for a few hours, it will get a purple hue in it again. Unfortunately, purpleheart will turn brown as time and exposure to ultraviolet rays hit it and stay brown.
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I thought PH was opposite and got and stayed purple w/ exposure to sun. I have never worked w/ it so just going by what I read.
 
I'm not entirely convinced what causes it but the purple will return. It usually takes a couple days for me.

I think some people try heat too.

Mark is correct though that it will brown out a bit more over time often.
 
This is one of those hot topics that I have been seriously jumped on, cussed out, threatened with bodily harm and other very nasty things.

Long story short to answer your question is the purple color is nothing more than oxidation of the tannins in the wood over time. This can be caused from a wide variety of methods and means as each method will render a different hue. Also to contend with is the old vs new oxidation.

One thing you may consider doing is refinish all of it to make sure it does get uniform in shade and finish. Typically by just adding oil like Tung/BLO/teak the color will instantly pop out for you and stay there.

Remember, brown is unoxidized wood and just my mere fabrication provides enough heat to start the oxidation process. From my understanding friction heat will net you the deepest colorful purple you can get and flame heat will net you physical damage to the wood fibers.
 
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edstreet said:
This is one of those hot topics that I have been seriously jumped on, cussed out, threatened with bodily harm and other very nasty things. Long story short to answer your question is the purple color is nothing more than oxidation of the tannins in the wood over time. This can be caused from a wide variety of methods and means as each method will render a different hue. Also to contend with is the old vs new oxidation. One thing you may consider doing is refinish all of it to make sure it does get uniform in shade and finish. Typically by just adding oil like Tung/BLO/teak the color will instantly pop out for you and stay there.
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I challenge you to a duel. You must lose at least 2 fingers or toes. Ha.

Good info Ed.

Also, my understanding is that there are several different woods called purple heart.

The oil has not worked for me in the couple pieces I've tried it on but I will continue to try it again.
 
I've made numerous displays out of purpleheart. If it stays out of natural light, the purple will stay pretty well. This is only from two years of buying the lumber. The displays I have in a room that gets little sunlight and the lumber I have in the dark garage have stayed purple. I had a 2" wide x 6' piece of it leaning againt a wall in my sunny breezeway for a year. It is an ugly brown and no heat or sanding is bringing the purple back to it.
 
Dan Masshardt said:
I challenge you to a duel. You must lose at least 2 fingers or toes. Ha.

Good info Ed.

Also, my understanding is that there are several different woods called purple heart.

The oil has not worked for me in the couple pieces I've tried it on but I will continue to try it again.
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Multiple species is indeed correct. As 'purple heart' indicated purple colored wood therefore any wood that has a 'purple heart' gets lumped as 'purple heart' this is true for all woods, esp exotic woods.

One good notable species is zebra wood. Real zebra wood is very durable and good construction quality. There is also a trashy zebra wood that we see more and more of simply because it looks the same, it is weak in structure and does not hold up that well. This is why many destroy zebrawood when they work with it.

Also worth noting is this is not listed in cities and many are grown on tree farms.

Peltogyne - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peltogyne, commonly known as purpleheart, amendoim or amaranth, is a genus of 23 species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae,
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As for the oil goes that is likely tied in with methods used.
 
edstreet said:
This is one of those hot topics that I have been seriously jumped on, cussed out, threatened with bodily harm and other very nasty things.

Long story short to answer your question is the purple color is nothing more than oxidation of the tannins in the wood over time. This can be caused from a wide variety of methods and means as each method will render a different hue. Also to contend with is the old vs new oxidation.

One thing you may consider doing is refinish all of it to make sure it does get uniform in shade and finish. Typically by just adding oil like Tung/BLO/teak the color will instantly pop out for you and stay there.

Remember, brown is unoxidized wood and just my mere fabrication provides enough heat to start the oxidation process. From my understanding friction heat will net you the deepest colorful purple you can get and flame heat will net you physical damage to the wood fibers.
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I had heard that you could run it through a microwave and speed up the process.... I ran my blanks through the microwave and they turned black...'course they were also smoking and smelled to high heaven of wood ash...:biggrin::biggrin: If you use a MW just do short and low heat cycles... too much and the wood will burn from the inside out.... DAMHIKT :frown::redface::redface::redface:
 
LOL... considering her displeasure at my hand polishing the ebonite the other night, I wonder what Tam would do to me if I microwaved a bunch of purple heart through her new above-range microwave. Somehow, I don't think I want to find out.
 
LagniappeRob said:
LOL... considering her displeasure at my hand polishing the ebonite the other night, I wonder what Tam would do to me if I microwaved a bunch of purple heart through her new above-range microwave. Somehow, I don't think I want to find out.
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Fortunately I have my own MW out in the shop, so that's not an issue. :smile:
More than once I've put wood in there and went off to do something else, only to discover the smell of smoke in the shop.:eek:.. sometimes takes a minute to remember I had wood cooking... :confused:
 
All of the "heart" woods, Purple Heart, Yellow Heart and Red Heart are sensitve to ultraviolet rays. Exposed to sunlight they will turn brown. Use a finish with UV blockers to limit the affect of sunlight. Best is indoor use.
 
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