Purple Heart

[GTH11]

Recieved a few slabs of Purple Heart from a bowyer friend of mine he use to use it for knocks on his arrows, its beautifull stuff,it works well does seem to burn easy though, i asked him about stabilizing it, and he gave me a puzzled look, and said it would work fine for knives,whats your experience with this wood?

 

[daizee]

I would beeswax it on a buffer or use something that seals the surface like tru-oil. Otherwise the wood will slowly gray as the awesomeness leaks out over time. I have tru-oil on a tiny purpleheart-handled knife and it's looking good so far. I was also recently given a couple big scraps. The grain is a bit big for my taste but the color is sweet. I'm thinking paring knives? Hm...

-Daizee

 

[james terrio]

I don't think it needs to be stabilized but I could be wrong. As I recall, the issue with it losing its nice color is, it fades on exposure to sunlight, so a sealer that protects against UV would be helpful. I'm afraid I don't know which products block UV. SPF-30 sunblock maybe?

 

[tattooedfreak]

The grain is very big and if you aren't careful it will pick up sanding dust very easily and discolour. I finished mine very fine and used danish oil and then a finishing wax and it turned out very nice. No need to stabilize, I don't think.

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

It has to be scorched before it will turn dark purple. Take a heat gun to a scrap and you will see. That's how the really dark purple comes out. This probably means you have to scorch it AFTER you've sanded to shape and are ready to finish it. I used superglue for my finish. Be careful, if you sand/rub through the superglue it will sand/rub off the dark purple and you'll have to re-scorch it. It does turn out beautiful, however.

 

[GTH11]

Thanks all, Zaph i like the scorch affect,, it seems this wood has abit of purple resin/sap that reacts to heat, in shaping the handle i scorched the front and back with my sanding wheel, but the scorch was a beautifull deep purple after after i lightly sanded it with some 220! Im gonna break out the heat gun and do some experimenting.

 

[lonepine]

Purple heart is a nice hard wood, but as has been said already it has some pores that can pick up dirt and gunk. I found it to be somewhat brittle and prone to splintering.

- Paul Meske

 

[Rick Lowe]

Purple heart just needs to be exposed to sunlight to get the deep purple color.
Scorchings okay if that's what you like, but not needed for color. Finishes well with Danish oil, Teak oil, Tru-oil.

 

[GrizzlyBear]

As far as protecting it from UV exposure, you can get a urethane sealer with UV protectant for decks and what not. I researched this when doing a knife out of Osage Orange because I wanted to keep that beautiful bright yellow. However, I didn't like the finish the UV blocking urethane dried with so I stripped it and simply finished it to 2000 grit with a quick wipe of Tru Oil to pop the grain. What I did do to help against UV discoloration, was to construct my sheath in such a way that it helped block the sun on all but the very end of the knife.