Speaking of Purpleheart

[GBusardo]

I was turning a purbleheart comfort pen for my wife last night and as usual, the wood was becoming a purple brown color. As I was turning the wood off the tube so I could slip on the comfort sleeve, the wood i was turning became a bright purple color. Nice! Second thought, I better sharpen this paring tool lol. I thought at that point I could put on some friction polish I could generate enough heat to turn the blank that same color. Well that didn't happen. I got the rag so hot it scorched, but the wood remained the same. I do not have a window in my house that gets more than one or two hours of sun a day. Having never tried that, I don't really know if it works. I have read so many conflicting reports about purpleheart. Hoping to get the pen that real nice purple color, i got the finished pen sitting under one of those full daylight bulbs. I put it on before I went to work today. If anything happens, I will let all of you know. There seems to be a ton of interest in this subject by the number of posts it generates.
Gary

 

[Penmonkey]

Just a few hours of sun will do it. Just make shure that the wood dosn't crack with the heat.

 

[jaywood1207]

I did a purpleheart cigar a few months ago and was disappointed with the colouring so set it aside and noticed a couple days later that it had changed. I turned it over and a few days later it was a deep purple. At that point it already had a CA finish on it and didn't need any sun to change the colour.

Sorry but can't seem to get a picture to show up here.

Nope still won't work but if you look in my album there is a picture in there. I don't think you'll have a problem finding it.[]

 

[Rifleman1776]

Originally posted by Penmonky
<br />Just a few hours of sun will do it. Just make shure that the wood dosn't crack with the heat.

My experience is that the wood varies. I have left purpleheart in daylight for days with no effect. I have left it under a UV gro-lite for weeks with no effect. OTOH, I have pens that turned dark sitting in a darkened box within a couple weeks. Go figger.

 

[bradh]

I dangle the blanks on a twist tie hung from the rear view mirror on my truck. A few hours there will turn the colour. Watch the heat level though.
Brad

 

[GBusardo]

I got the results of my "test". After about 5 hours on each side under a 40 watt daylight bulb, the pens definitely turned more purple from the purple brown it was and the bulb didn't generate too much heat. Unfortunately the pen did not turn the great looking purple that it did as I was using the paring tool []
Some time ago, I did try and cook a different purpleheart blank in the microwave. That didnt have much effect, just lightened the blank a little. My goal is to get that great purple color I shaved away with the paring tool. Maybe Frank is right about each blank being unique, but I fail to figure out why it turned bright purple with the paring tool, but not with the lamp or the friction polish. Another of lifes great mysteries.

 

[GBusardo]

Here is a picture of the Purpleheart pen that I put under the sunlamp. I figured I would kill a few birds with one stone. There was another link about "Slickness of pens" My wife complained about the last pen I made her. "The pen slips out of my hands" to quote her. She wanted a purpleheart pen, but wanted the comfort grip. The color in the picture is true to life as far as I can tell. I also screwed up with the comfort grip, It is proud of he wood, not as bad as the picture indicates, but it is off. I have no idea how that happened, I had checked the width of the blank to the large bushing. To me, the results of the "test" were worth it, unless it turns brown in a few weeks [V]