My Purpleheart blanks....

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mbellek

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Well I just started turning a purple heart blank that I cut down from a larger board. I got the board at Woodcraft and it was the most beautiful bright purple.

Now that I've roughed into a cylinder... It's a muddy brown color!!

I realize that natural wood is going to vary, but I was wondering if anything will change... Will it look better once I've sanded it?

Is there anything I can do for the color? If not, I might as well move on. I don't want to turn it, that's how ugly it is!!

Is there any way to tell if a purpleheart board will do that?

Advice appreciated.
 
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You can generally get a good idea of how wood will finish up by wiping it with mineral spirits or vmp naphtha. Both will dry off, leaving no residue, but while they are wet, they will show the grain and any figure in the wood. You may want to try that on your cylinder before proceeding. I know of now way to tell if any wood will look bad only from looking at the outside, but others on this forum may be able to advise you.
 
All purple heart I've turned ends up that muddy brown. Once heated the purple color comes back. Some people heat it in the oven or you can 'heat' it by sanding it. Sunshine, is another source of getting it purpled up again. Set the wood in a window and let the sun work....
 
Purpleheart and many other woods will turn brown over time. Maybe others will give ideas on how to keep purpleheart from changing. Things like UV finishes or acid treatments. Do some online research and you will find ideas that may work for you.
 
Melanie,

Try setting the "ugly" cylinder in a sunny window or on the dash of your car for a few hours. It should return to a better hue. You can also apply some friction after sanding to improve the color. Some expose the purpleheart to the fumes of muratic (pool) acid which is said to turn the purpleheart a cranberry color. The hue will fade with time, but some of the above should delay it as long as possible.

FWIW,
 
There is a guy selling a purpleheart bowl blank on ebay and this is what he says in his ad: "After turning let it set until it turns as dark as you want before finishing" The blanks he's showing are reddish, but the finished bowl he shows as an example is deep purple. All from the same section of the tree.
 
mbellek,
What you have there is typical in my opinion of Purpleheart. It will turn back to purple once sanded and finished. The piece you started with probaly had been sitting around and the outer layer has reacted with the elements (air,sunlight) turning the wood purple.
 
I have a flourecent light on in my shop 24/7. I just set the piece on the worktable under that light. It's goes back to purple. You'll have to flip it over a couple times to even out both sides.

From my understanding the UV waves are what does the job. But I could be misinformed.
 
This is one of the few things here I know. It's the SUN - natural light spectrum. I set the blanks in the sunlight - on a table in my patio for a few days before I turn them, after I turn them - and have had people who buy them set them in the window sill or some natural light source for few days if the color starts to fade a bit.

It's a chemical reaction to the light in the wood which increases the red pigmentation. Kind of like an apple turning brown after its peeled. That's my take on it. The color is well worth the trouble - to me.
 
Originally posted by exoticwo
<br />mbellek,
What you have there is typical in my opinion of Purpleheart. It will turn back to purple once sanded and finished. The piece you started with probaly had been sitting around and the outer layer has reacted with the elements (air,sunlight) turning the wood purple.
Click to expand...

Albert is correct. But, with time, and exposure to light, it will turn dark again.
 
Some good advice here so far. Hopefully I can add or help in some way.

1) The muriatic acid trick (use extreme caution, m-a is some hideous stuff) works wonders and the cranberry color will last for several years if this is a "purse or pocket" pen. It will last that long, however, only if you put a good film finish on it like CA finish or lacquer. Cheapo cheezy "friction polishes" won't protect for long.

2) If you want the deeep purple rather than cranberry, sand the wood, but use a strip of brown paper bag as a non-abrasive friction-builder to heat up the wood a good bit. Get it to *almost* the color you want and put on your finish, and then set it on the back porch for a couple hours.



Purpleheart, no matter what you do with it, will eventually darken to a dark brown, but with a good thick film finish it takes a long time.

What darkens purpleheart (and padauk and other similar woods for that matter) is two things: UV rays and chemical oxidation from the air we breath. A good film finish prevents the air oxidation. A good pocket drastically slows down the UV darkening. Strangely, with purpleheart, the very thing that turns it nice purple also eventually turns it brown.
 
I tried the paper bag trick... quite by accident actually... I was sanding and thinking "Better sand Harrrrrd to bring out that color!!" and all of a sudden I got a beautiful grape-y purple! So I kept doing the same thing all over my hair stick and got a really cool effect, though it was striped, not solid. No matter what I did it retained this striped effect, and I decided I liked it.

So HUT wax is probably not suitable for purpleheart?
 
has anyone tried a UV protectant Poly to stop the coplor change once it reaches the desired level?

I know it's probably not the best finish (and it's plastic), but it may help with keeping the color.
 
Originally posted by Russianwolf
<br />has anyone tried a UV protectant Poly to stop the coplor change once it reaches the desired level?

I know it's probably not the best finish (and it's plastic), but it may help with keeping the color.
Click to expand...

There have been attempts at UV protection. In fact, I'm toying with the idea of producing a finish with high-level UV protection in it. But, for now, your best bet, IF YOUR MAIN OBJECTIVE IS TO PRESERVE THE COLOR, would be a high quality spar varnish as is used on wood boats. As I understand it, this stuff goes on thick, which might be super-ughs for a pen, but does work for a period of time but not permanently. Right now, the reality is that your p'heart pen will eventually turn dark.
 
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