Purple Heart


dacarne

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Question- I was planing some Purple Heart and out of ten pieces eight came out perfect. However the other two were torn up. Each piece had these 1/8 inch plus divots scooped out of the wood. Anyone know if this is my planer or an issue with the wood? I have since planed maple and oak with no issues

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Did the bad ones have the same grain orientation as the good ones? Do you know if all of the planks were from the same species? There are quite a few that are sold as purpleheart and while they all look pretty much alike, my understanding is that there are some differences in characteristics, although what I've read about the differences is mostly the way they differ a bit in how the color changes.

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From my experience Purpleheart is a hit or miss with a plane.  I love the wood, but dread planing it because of what you just experienced.  I'm guessing the board that tore out had some really wild grain orientation.

 

It's even hard to put through a drum sander due to the oils in the wood causing the sandpaper to load up and put burn marks on the surface.

 

If I ever get the money, I hear the helical cutterheads do a much better job with these kinds of things.

 

I've never had a problem with any other wood going thru a planer.

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Don's got it...Shelix is the way to go.

 

Super-hard exotics are tough to plane, period.  But it's not the "wood's fault."  A guy came into the lumberyard the other day complaining that "your curly maple tears out horribly!"  I resisted the urge to laugh in his face, and explained as nicely as possible that it's not "our curly maple's" fault, and if you're having tearout issues, you have to use different techniques or tools to solve the problem.

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I'm currently building a military shadow box for a purple heart recipient out of purple heart wood (planned that lol). I took a solid piece and split it into 5/8" pieces and planed them down exactly to 3/4". I only had one come out with an irregular cut. I've never used it before. Only recently heard of it but heard of its difficulty to use. I'm using a planer that my carpentry class has. Un site of the sharpness or blade type but I was happy with only one being damaged. With it being such a hard, dense wood, it's gonna happen.

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I'm currently building a military shadow box for a purple heart recipient out of purple heart wood (planned that lol). I took a solid piece and split it into 5/8" pieces and planed them down exactly to 3/4".

WOW ... that is  a super good trick to start w/ 5/8" material and plane it down to 3/4" :lol:

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Met this blacksmith in Kentucky that would swear up and down the iron just grew into vines in the shape of a chair.  Sometimes, it's the master, not the material.  (And made me that much more aware that I really have some skill building to do.)

 

As for that "wonder plane," I believe Matt got a video of it from WIA.

 

I've only put purple heart through (no, not the wringer) the lathe or hand sanded... because the parts were so small I was afraid to use any powered sander on it.  Do have to say the router hated it.  (Then again, I was plunge routing with a fixed base, in a narrow strip, with no real hold on the work surface.  I don't blame the router at all.)

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pd988958.jpg Grasshoper....there are still many techniques I have to teach you like board thickening. 

I hear you say "planer from carpentry class" and I think 'probably has dull blades'.  You also may have run the purple haze...er heart....(purple haze is what I am seeing)....you may have run this very peculiar/wild grain/difficult wood through the planer against the grain and stroked the proverbial cat's hair backwards increasing the tear out.

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  • 4 weeks later...

On this topic, I bought a really cool piece of Purple Heart from woodcraft, about 8"x140" 6/4, Got it home cut off 35" for a cutting board and changed my blades to freshly sharpened ones. One side of the board planed out beautifully, the other side with crazy swirling grain is a mess.. Gotta love it.

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On this topic, I bought a really cool piece of Purple Heart from woodcraft, about 8"x140" 6/4, Got it home cut off 35" for a cutting board and changed my blades to freshly sharpened ones. One side of the board planed out beautifully, the other side with crazy swirling grain is a mess.. Gotta love it.

What did you have to pay for that sucker, if you don't mind me asking

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