Purple Heart??

[JudeA]

Hey yall
I just finished turning some purple heart. In the picture (sorry for the blur) the one on the bottom is realy purple, i\I turned that one last week, but the one on the top is real dark almost like indian rosewood. The only difference I did is the one on bottom I used regular wood laqure and the one on the top I used shellawax. Can anyone tell me what I did wrong?
Thanks Jude

 

[penbros]

its just the different tones of the color of purpleheart. dont worry about it, its natural. maybe the laquer lets sun at the wood better than shellawax. the sun darkens the wood so...

 

[mrcook4570]

Set it (the one that has a brownish color) in the window to catch some rays, give it a nice purple tan. Fresh cut purple heart is more of a brown color. Sunlight will turn it a deep purple color, but unfortunately time and additional exposure to light will ultimately change it back to brown again.

 

[JimQ]

If you are up north where the temps aren't so bad, you can leave it on the dashboard in the sun for a day. Can't do it here, car hits 150 in a couple of hours. []

JimQ

 

[Ravenbsp]

You can also put it on your lathe (before final finish is applied) and cook it at speed with a propane torch (requires some practice, but results in even DEEP purple), or heat it up using friction by way of a piece of 0000 steel wool with the lathe cranking (less even but you are unlikely to set the wood ablaze).

Bryam

 

[DFM]

If your camera has the "flower" setting for taking close-up photos try using that setting next time. That setting tells your camera to focus on a closer plane than normal. You can do a search on through the older topics and find a wealth of information on purpleheart.

 

[terrymiller]

Jim I was told about a trick on here about two years ago and I use it all the time for purpleheart. Bake the wood in the oven at 400 for between 10 and 20 minutes depending on how deep of a purple you want.

 

[redfishsc]

Terry, bake the freshly turned/sanded but unfinished pen blanks, or bake the square, undrilled unturned blanks?

 

[BUGSY]

after you cook it ....if you finish at this point will it stay purple with a ca finish or will it turn brown again??....bugsy

 

[JimGo]

bake first, then turn. The color goes throughout the blank. Be careful not to scorch it! If you cook it with the tube in it, it will probably crack.

 

[alamocdc]

Originally posted by BUGSY
<br />after you cook it ....if you finish at this point will it stay purple with a ca finish or will it turn brown again??....bugsy

Purpleheart is not colorfast and will eventually brown. I don't know of anything that will prevent it.

On the other hand, you can make it colorfast by exposing it to muriatic acid fumes. But it turns the wood more of a cranberry color and some don't like the change.