Purple heart

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
JRay8

JRay8

Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2011
Messages
280
Location
Arnold, MD
i have tried only a few times to work with purple heart. the reason i dont try very often is it always turns brown after i sand and finish it.:eek: where does the deep purple color go and how do i get it back?:confused:
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
You can also put it in a low temp oven (100F) and it will restore the color. Sadly, over time, it will go back to it's brown color.:frown:
 
I did a lot of research on purpleheart and found that UV Light and Oxygen both affected the color of the wood over time. The color will come back if put in the sun, a couple of days has been all it has taken in my experience. To keep the color you have to somehow block UV and oxygen. From my research I decided to go with penofin oil (99% uv inhibitor) and Deft Lacquer for the furniture I made from purple heart. 6 years later they are still a vibrant purple. Now they aren't sitting in front of a window mind you, I placed them where they do not get a lot of direct sunlight. For my pens, I still use a light coat of penofin oil and then put a CA finish on. So far the ones I've made from purpleheart have held up and look great after 3 years. The one thing I struggle with is the open grain. If I do any kind of engraving on the pen and want to color fill it, there is a good chance that the color fill will get into that open grain. My solution to that has been to get a good ca finish on, then do the engraving & color fill, then put it back on the lathe and build the CA finish up.
 
When my turning is complete; I heat the purpleheart with my propane torch while its spinning on the lathe. It brings out the color instantly for me. Pay close attention so you dont put burn marks on the wood.
 
calpens said:
When my turning is complete; I heat the purpleheart with my propane torch while its spinning on the lathe. It brings out the color instantly for me. Pay close attention so you dont put burn marks on the wood.
Click to expand...

i do something similar... i use my electric heat gun... keeps the open flame away from all the flammable shavings in the workshop :wink: it does require some patiences though as it seems to go from "geez... nothing is happening" to "WOOOO thats well toasted" at the exact instant you look away... :cool:

interesting note... i've found that when using heat the colour is always much darker than if you leave it out in the sun for a few days...

--Dave
 
Who knows, burn marks make give it some personality. :smile:

calpens said:
When my turning is complete; I heat the purpleheart with my propane torch while its spinning on the lathe. It brings out the color instantly for me. Pay close attention so you dont put burn marks on the wood.
Click to expand...
 
woodgraver said:
I did a lot of research on purpleheart and found that UV Light and Oxygen both affected the color of the wood over time. The color will come back if put in the sun, a couple of days has been all it has taken in my experience. To keep the color you have to somehow block UV and oxygen. From my research I decided to go with penofin oil (99% uv inhibitor) and Deft Lacquer for the furniture I made from purple heart. 6 years later they are still a vibrant purple. Now they aren't sitting in front of a window mind you, I placed them where they do not get a lot of direct sunlight. For my pens, I still use a light coat of penofin oil and then put a CA finish on. So far the ones I've made from purpleheart have held up and look great after 3 years. The one thing I struggle with is the open grain. If I do any kind of engraving on the pen and want to color fill it, there is a good chance that the color fill will get into that open grain. My solution to that has been to get a good ca finish on, then do the engraving & color fill, then put it back on the lathe and build the CA finish up.
Click to expand...

So...does UV cause it to turn brown? If so, isn't a little ironic that putting it in the sun makes it turn back to purple? Isn't that effectively putting it in UV light?

Why doesn't CA protect it from oxygen? Seem to me that it would seal the oxygen out.
 
When you cook cinnibon rolls the oven causes them to turn a really nice golden color, but if you leave them in there too long, they turn black and do not taste good at all! I guess you could say it is ironic, I'm not sure of the exact cause of the color change...just reporting what I read. As for CA keeping out oxygen, I'm not sure if it does or not...but I was sure I didn't want to try to put a CA finish on my furniture :) My guess is that CA does in fact block oxygen and that with the penofin oil has been working for me. In my line of work we call it a proven practice...not necessarily a best practice, just that it works for me.
 
I found if you use a brown paper bag and hold it against the wood while its turning on the lathe that it heats the wood and gives it a great purple color, but get ready that bag gets hot quick. Only down side is you can never get the color uniform across the length of the blank so it has different shades of purple "rings". I tried the torch and and oven but they both seemed to make the wood crack. I've never seen the color turn brownish on any of the pens I've made.
 
Lot of conflicting advice here. Put it in the sun...keep it away from the sun. Oxygen is not good, yet it sits in the lumber yard exposed to the oxygen in the air for months on end and has great purple color.

Here's what I do which requires planning ahead. Turn it to shape and do your final sanding. Let the sanded pen barrels sit in your shop for a week or 2, it will turn back to the same purple that it was when you picked it up from the lumber yard. I do the same thing with Cocobolo to restore its color. My shop has no windows, so it must be exposure to air that's restoring the color.

In my experience the application of heat will bring back the color, but it turns a shade of purple that has more red in it.

Good luck with whatever method you use.
 
okay I just did it right now. Turned the purple heart and it was brown in colour. After I turned it and sanded it down to size. I took out the heat gun on high and hand turned the lathe while blasting it with heat. You really can't blink because as soon as you blink the colour goes from brown to purple.

http://imgur.com/Ce95n
 
I use a small butane torch to turn purple. I actually use this as a design feature by creating rings of extreme dark purple with the lathe running. Then i turn it off and dance the torch around on the blank to create streaks of purple.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom