Finish for Purpleheat

[bbast]

I am making a simple earring holder similar to the one in the attached photo. I am going to use some left over purpleheart and was wondering what would be a good finishing option. The other earring holders have been made from cherry with a clear oil finish and then waxed.

I know that purpleheart likes to change colour over time and I would like to keep the purple colour as long as possible.

Thanks.

[Ben H]

To my knowledge, nothing will stop, nor slow down the color change. The wood will do it's thing, and we have to live with it. Perhaps another can debate this, but I've done everything from varnish, shellac, poly, oil, water base, etc... Nothing seems to make a difference.

[Onboard]

I am making a simple earring holder similar to the one in the attached photo. I am going to use some left over purpleheart and was wondering what would be a good finishing option. The other earring holders have been made from cherry with a clear oil finish and then waxed.

I know that purpleheart likes to change colour over time and I would like to keep the purple colour as long as possible.

Thanks.

UV light will change the wood color from purple to brown (or a purplish brown). Try to keep the wood away from direct sunlight or other sources of light with UV light content. Use a UV blocking finish such as some of the outdoor finishes.

Here is a comment From Michael Dresdner: “Light is what changes purpleheart to ‘brown’ heart. Keeping the wood out of sunlight helps, but indoor lighting, especially fluorescent light, also puts out energy in the UV range. Finishing the wood in an exterior coating that is well loaded with UV absorbers and HALS also helps, but as I am sure you have heard me say before, it just slows the inevitable. In the end, the sun always wins.”

One recommendation from the forums: “I use a spar varnish with UV protection. UV is what turns the wood brown... and unfortunately what will also fade the purple over time. Sand your wood down, then let it sit until it is a bright purple. Apply several coats of varnish with UV protection.”

[Don Z.]

I've had the opposite problem with purpleheart. That is to say, when fresh cut it is brown, but as time goes by, it becomes more purple.

Wiping varnish has worked well... Photos later.

[PaulMarcel]

My hardwood dealer is convinced there are subvarieties of purpleheart. In the wood yard, he had 2-3 padouk boards and a purpleheart board leaning against the side of the metal canopy. It was there for over a year. The padouk turned a rich creamy brown where exposed and stayed red where it was under another board. The purpleheart had a board on it yet it stayed the same purple everywhere. We don't lack UV in Arizona. I bought my purpleheart from him and all my projects from those boards turned purple after machining (oxydation) and stayed there long time later. They are all varnished with Arm-R-Seal. One project gets panned with afternoon sunlight daily. Another exists in florescent lighting.

I feel like taking some of what I bought from him and some from another dealer and put them both outside with a masking material to quantitatively measure the change and if they go brown. Someday.

[Onboard]

My hardwood dealer is convinced there are subvarieties of purpleheart. In the wood yard, he had 2-3 padouk boards and a purpleheart board leaning against the side of the metal canopy. It was there for over a year. The padouk turned a rich creamy brown where exposed and stayed red where it was under another board. The purpleheart had a board on it yet it stayed the same purple everywhere. We don't lack UV in Arizona. I bought my purpleheart from him and all my projects from those boards turned purple after machining (oxydation) and stayed there long time later. They are all varnished with Arm-R-Seal. One project gets panned with afternoon sunlight daily. Another exists in florescent lighting.

I feel like taking some of what I bought from him and some from another dealer and put them both outside with a masking material to quantitatively measure the change and if they go brown. Someday.

As usual Paul-Marcel, it looks like your on to something. Looks like there are 20-23 species of purple heart. I’m guessing that we don’t see all of the species of purple heart, but even if suppliers provide 2 or 3 species, that could be a problem. Especially if you wound up with a mix of species in one project.

Claims 23 species of purple heart with a list of the different species in the lower portion.

Claims 20 species of purple heart.

Many, many pictures and comments on purple heart.

[PaulMarcel]

Wow! 23 shades of purple!

After my posting, I went to the shop because a friend gave me a scrap of 8/4 purpleheart. It is definitely darker and more brown than the 8/4 i banded my assembly table with (which comes from the dealer with the apparently UV resistant variety). Thing is, my assembly table has been setup nearly 2 years longer than my friend's piece has been planed so maybe I have two varieties in the shop!

I have to say that the variety on my assembly table has a brighter color (but not too bright) and more depth than others I've seen. Almost makes me think it's too nice for an assembly table. But then I get over it.

[jHop]

Before my local Rockler shop shut down and the franchise went south (literally, by roughly twenty miles), I asked one of the guys there about this marvelous purple board I saw. He explained it was fresh-cut purpleheart, and I should bid goodbye to the color, because it was just going to fade darker.

I asked what could be done to keep that color, and the short version of the response was to stain it that purple or paint it that purple. Nothing else was going to keep it that color.

Which really sucks, considering I love that color coming from nature. But, I keep hoping to find some product somewhere to maintain. Now, I need to check into those other sub-species...

[Don Z.]

OK, in this photo, my bench was brand new. I think I took this the day I finally put the top in place. It doesn't have a finish on it yet, I don't think I'd even sanded it yet.

I'm looking for a more recent photo. I may have to break out the camera and take one later. In this photo, you can see the bench legs behind the lofting of the schooner hull. It was taken about a year and a half after the first one...

[Don Z.]

This photo shows the same bench today.

I guess, looking at it now, the top is a very deep purple, but the legs have a brownish cast. The top is covered with a wiping varnish, the legs completely unfinished. So that's what three and a half years does to purpleheart. Looking at it anew, I'm not real pleased with the brownish cast, but based on what the top looks like, I can sand off the surface layer, and add some varnish, and it should be OK.

This photo, in addition to the moulds for lead drafting ducks, shows the benchtop as a background. It is a VERY deep purple. Personally, I don't see any brown here at all, but I guess one could argue it.

[AcornHouse]

I am making a simple earring holder similar to the one in the attached photo. I am going to use some left over purpleheart and was wondering what would be a good finishing option. The other earring holders have been made from cherry with a clear oil finish and then waxed.

I know that purpleheart likes to change colour over time and I would like to keep the purple colour as long as possible.

Thanks.

Clear oil and wax would be my choice (and keeping it out of the sun as much as possible). DO NOT use shellac based finish, I have seen it turn brown immediately after using a shellac based finish on the lathe and never become purple.