Using torch on bloodwood

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hannah

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Dec 27, 2019
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Anyone have ideas for how to make the color in bloodwood pop? I have gotten nice results using the torch trick with purpleheart. Wondering if bloodwood reacts similarly.
 
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jttheclockman

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Anyone have ideas for how to make the color in bloodwood pop? I have gotten nice results using the torch trick with purpleheart. Wondering if bloodwood reacts similarly.
No, True bloodwood is red and will stay red. It will get darker but always be red. Now there is some woods called bloodwood satine but are browner in color and to me not true bloodwood. Purpleheart is a wood that with time will lose the color purple.
 

jttheclockman

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Does that hold if it is sealed with CA?
NO, It will slow it down some but will turn. People had success with CA on purpleheart more so than traditional finishes such as lacquers and poly but will eventually turn brown. Now have to put this addendum in there I have seen purpleheart that had kept its color but that was the exception to the rule because of the place it was harvested and the tightness of the grain. The same goes for Yellowheart.

Same to the bloodwood thing.
 

pshrynk

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Thanks. As to the original post: You're a braver man than I, Gunga Din. I just had a flash of everything in my shop going up in a gigantic WHOOSH!
 

hannah

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Thanks. As to the original post: You're a braver man than I, Gunga Din. I just had a flash of everything in my shop going up in a gigantic WHOOSH!

lol! Yeah, definitely need to hoover all the sawdust up first and hide the DNA.
 

dpstudios

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New Orleans
I've taken a torch to bloodwood and all it does is turn it black, which can be a good thing.

bloodwood dragon 1-19.jpg
 

leehljp

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An interesting characteristic of wood changing color is that for those who make and keep, or purchase and use on a daily basis - the color change is so gradual that for the daily users / viewer, it doesn't change to them, but to those who see it once every 6 months or so, will notice the change. I swear that my paddock is still orange but LOML says that it is brown! When I made it 6 years ago, my nephew-in-law wanted one because it was UT (Tennessee) colors. But, it is now (was) brown to most people. (I miss placed it a few months ago and am still looking for it. :( )
 

MRDucks2

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I have turned Purpleheart and sealed with CA by which point it was brown. After laying it in a window sill that received direct sunlight it went back to purple and, last I saw of that one, stayed that way. How repeatable is this process?
 

howsitwork

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An interesting characteristic of wood changing color is that for those who make and keep, or purchase and use on a daily basis - the color change is so gradual that for the daily users / viewer, it doesn't change to them, but to those who see it once every 6 months or so, will notice the change. I swear that my paddock is still orange but LOML says that it is brown! When I made it 6 years ago, my nephew-in-law wanted one because it was UT (Tennessee) colors. But, it is now (was) brown to most people. (I miss placed it a few months ago and am still looking for it. :( )
Can't you ask the horse?🤔

or is it Paduk ? Yes this changes to deep brown even with CA treatment but it's so gradual and your mind tells you "it's still red ' cos it was when I turned it"
 

howsitwork

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I have turned Purpleheart and sealed with CA by which point it was brown. After laying it in a window sill that received direct sunlight it went back to purple and, last I saw of that one, stayed that way. How repeatable is this process?
never seen that happen but I have managed to get a brown streak in some Paduak I left in the sun for some months in the shop. Looked good but couldn't replicate it easily .
 
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