Darkening of wood//Brazilian blackheart (Zollernia spp.)//Can this be prevented?

[BoonareeBurl]

Does anyone know if Brazilian blackheart (Zollernia species; aka "pau santo") typically darkens over time? Although a beautifully figured Brazilian blackheart pen has been locked away with no exposure to UV, in just six months it's already darkened considerably.

I'm also wondering if there's a way to prevent this darkening. This particular pen has only a very modest coating of CA, I think, as I wanted a more natural finish/look. I just hate spending on a beautifully figured or colored wood, only to have it end up looking like any other piece of wood after a few months or years.

Thanks in advance,

G

Around 6 months ago:

Today (it's the same pen; I just changed the tag at some point):

 

[Curly]

Pretty much no. Some woods react to light as you know but others react to air, moisture, oxygen, or the finish changing the colour and there is very little you can do about it. You just have to accept that it may change or not use it in favour of woods that don't change much.

 

[BoonareeBurl]

Pretty much no. Some woods react to light as you know but others react to air, moisture, oxygen, or the finish changing the colour and there is very little you can do about it. You just have to accept that it may change or not use it in favour of woods that don't change much.

Yup, that's kind of what I thought. Just sucks that the beautiful burl or figured wood you see today might look like, well, just a dark piece of wood in a year or two or three.

G

 

[Curly]

They can go the other way too. Rosewood bleaching out in a sunlit window for instance. It's the nature of the beast.

Pete

 

[penicillin]

I found this article helpful, regarding color changes in wood:
https://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/preventing-color-changes-in-exotic-woods/

Here is the description of Brazilian Blackheart (Pau Santo). There is no mention of color change or colorfastness:
https://www.wood-database.com/pau-santo/

 

[leehljp]

Agree with Pete. Going back 60+ years for me, and my first sighting of walnut being cut at the saw mill - beauty of natural black walnut as it is fresh cut in its rich iridescent purples and hits of blueish reds that turn to a pretty brown as the wood dries.

I went in and out of a hardware store in Toyota City for a few years and admired some of their slabs about 2 ft by 3 ft and 3 inches thick. One such slab looked exactly like kill dried black walnut. I finally found the type of wood written in pencil on it - Kuwa or Mulberry. The mulberry wood that I have been around (and used) is naturally a golden tone similar in color to teak. But out in nature it turned a rich brown.

My first pen was made from a beautiful orangish padauk. In about a year, it was brown!

Yellow woods, brown woods, red woods, purple woods, orange woods will all change - in a few months to a few years. Hollys will turn ivory after several years, or grayish if not properly dried after cutting.

I will admit one wood that has not changed for me in 18 years - has been my persimmon ebony - black black!

 

[Fine Engineer]

I haven't seen what happens with pens, but I have Jatoba flooring in my house (also known as Brazilian Cherry), and the color changes are pretty drastic. All the wood goes in with a medium brown like cherry or mahogany (and the flooring that has been under an area rug since installation still looks like that. But the wood that is exposed to light changed a lot. Not all though, some looks similar to when it was installed, but some other boards lightened up to look like maple or ash, and some went dark and look like rosewood. I've taken some leftover scraps and milled them into pen blanks, and have made a few pens with it. I'll have to see what they look like in a couple of years.