purple heart wood

marekz

marekz

Joined
Jun 16, 2008
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2 questions-#1- for the knife makers/sellers -have you found or do you think purpleheart wood is a good seller. #2. what are your personal feelings about the quality of the wood for knife handle--do you stabilze or not?-thanks marekz
 
dont know the answers to your questions, but i will tell you it burns easy and it is a pain to work with. in my experience it is worth the extra effort because it beautiful when done.( on a side note if you get a sliver it burns like hell!)
 
I've heard that this is an oily wood, and as such does not need to be stabilized.

I guess if we're talking about purple heart in general terms, and not just these questions, you should know that I often get poison ivy type rashes when I work with it.

Another drawback, several pieces I made from purple heart have lost their color from sun exposure. Add it all up, and I don't like to work with it.
 
Marek, I had a piece of purpleheart handle material on my shelf for 5 years, Charlie has it now.... I've never had someone ask me to make a knife with purpleheart as the material. It's nice but I think that because of the way the handle changes color deters some people from buying it, it's kind of like pickled finishes on furniture or cabinets, some people absolutely love it and some customers (and people that have to later color match an old cabinet) absolutley despise pickled finishes.

I've never stabilized mine, can't remember if it's one of the woods you can't stabilize. If you can't dent the wood with your thumbnail it should be alright to use without stabilizing.

I wouldn't have a problem putting purpleheart on a user but it's not going on something mid range or above for me.
 
Purpleheart is definitely high on the list of problem woods when it comes to skin reactions. I've only used it a couple of times, but both handles turned out nice with non-stabilized wood. It's not the hardest stuff out there, but it will hold up pretty well. I've never tried selling a knife with purpleheart and have never had a customer request it, so I can't really comment there.

You can use an oven or heat gun to bring out the purple to your taste. Just be careful about a heat gun and over-heating the tang and thus ruinning your epoxy bond and causing gaps around the handle necessitating punching out the pins and re-attaching the handle (ask me how I know :( ). In fact, I'd just use longer times and lower temps in an oven to darken it up if you wanted to. I do think it looks classy with white spacers. Here's one I did for my sister a while back:

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--nathan
 
I have made a couple of knives with it. It is hard heavy and dense not oily at all burns easy. I also trimmed in my kitchen counter with it and its a bear to saw a 2" plank but the finished product is nice. You could stabilize it but i do not feel it needs it.

Bob

Oh and nice knife Nathan
 
I've only made one knife with purpleheart - mixing it with African Blackwood and Ivory spacers. I thought it was goinbg to be the ugliest knife in the world but it turned out real nice. (Sometimes the customer knows more than we give them credit for.)

Everyone else I've showed the wood to wants to know why I dyed it that stupid color. :rolleyes:

I have some nice quilted purpleheart, but I don't see it ever getting used.

Rob!
 
I love purpleheart for knife handles. It is stable, doesn't crack and finished up nicely wiith just paste wax. Eventually with use it oxidizes brownish, but my customers so far don't mind when I tell them t's going to happen and show them a 10 year old knife I used a lot

-Page
 
the reason i was asking was this feller , i know, wanted to sell me a 1x1/2 x 16 x 48 piece for $80.00. but im super tight with cash and havent used purple heart nmuch---thanks mark
 
I have used it once and it was stabilized. It did not appear to have changed color over time.
 
marekz said:
the reason i was asking was this feller , i know, wanted to sell me a 1x1/2 x 16 x 48 piece for $80.00. but im super tight with cash and havent used purple heart nmuch---thanks mark
Click to expand...

That's over twice the retail value..forgetaboutit.

I've been exhibiting at knife shows for 10 years and rarely get asked for purpleheart although I usually have some figured curly scales and blocks on hand. I have observed how people react to and select varies woods and find purple heart to be a girl wood as are most purple dyed woods. The only time a man buys it is when it's a custom order for a girl or his wife slams an elbow in his ribs and sais, "I want that!" Color change is a normal part of photo degradation applied to bright pigmented woods. Purple heart will generally darken and overtime with sufficient UV exposure turns almost black. Makes great out door furniture!!

Acrylic impregnates (stabilizes) fine with a proper, professional grade system and resins.
 
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