Purpleheart Wood

A

AbLonewolf

Joined
Jan 30, 2020
Messages
75
Good Day.

Recently, I made a knife, and used purpleheart wood for the scales. Once I finished the process, the scales turned out dark brown. Was hoping it would retain much of the purple color.

I use the same finish for all kinds of other wood species, and they turn out great. Sanding is usually: 120, 240, 400, and 600.

- One coat of polymerized Tung Oil Sealer.
- Two coats of polymerized Tung Oil High Luster.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanx...Jay
 
The same thing happens with cedar, it looks great right after you finish it, but then it turns a orange/brown color. I’ve recently been experimenting with soaking the cedar with wd-40. I don’t know if I would do it on a knife but it has retained the color very well.
 
My understanding is it’s from uv rays. I’ve used teak oil that has uv protectant in it. It has helped.

Edit: I may have it backwards. Maybe UV light is what you need to turn it back purple. Sit it out in the sun and see what happens. Heat also effects it.
 
In my experience, Purpleheart turns dark with use no matter what I've done to it. Oils that you put on it or oil from your hand will accelerate the process as will UV exposure. Teak oil will probably be the best but will still darken it.
 
A CA finish seems to work too keep that color as well...
One of my first knives has a purple heart handle. Still purple several years later.

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Now admittedly is not as purple as it once was, but it's still purple-ish...
 
Stabilizing has helped prevent that in my experience.
 
My experience is that it takes a little while with exposure to UV to go purple, then will fade back to brown with UV over time. I would be surprised if the OP had passed or jumped that first purple stage. It seems more likely to me that having ground off the material that was purple, the new scales have not had enough sun light (this being winter, and they have probably been kept indoors) to make the first change to purple.

In around 1999 or 2000 I made a set of arrow shafts footed with purple heart. All were given a few coats of an oil based polyurethane varnish. In 2001 a combination of injury and change of location took me away from archery and these arrows have rested in a back quiver ever since. They are still purple. I am pretty sure I have chunks of unfinished purple heart that have been kept out of the light with no finish for the same period which retain a fair bit of purple. Maybe its a wood for real draw queens only ;) It does need some exposure after working though to go purple in the first place.
 
C_Claycomb said:
My experience is that it takes a little while with exposure to UV to go purple, then will fade back to brown with UV over time. I would be surprised if the OP had passed or jumped that first purple stage. It seems more likely to me that having ground off the material that was purple, the new scales have not had enough sun light (this being winter, and they have probably been kept indoors) to make the first change to purple.

In around 1999 or 2000 I made a set of arrow shafts footed with purple heart. All were given a few coats of an oil based polyurethane varnish. In 2001 a combination of injury and change of location took me away from archery and these arrows have rested in a back quiver ever since. They are still purple. I am pretty sure I have chunks of unfinished purple heart that have been kept out of the light with no finish for the same period which retain a fair bit of purple. Maybe its a wood for real draw queens only ;) It does need some exposure after working though to go purple in the first place.
Click to expand...

You are right. The purpleheart blocks I have are all still purple. They basically were stored in a box after I cut them.

I realize that purpleheart is straight grained, and kinda boring. But I really like its color.

I recall when I made the last handles, the color change was very noticeable after the shaping and sanding. They were oiled right after.

What I will try in the spring is simply shape and sand a block the way I would for scales. Then let it sit for some time, including giving it lots of sunlight. See how that goes.

In the meantime, I have plenty of other wood species to play with.

Thank you Claycomb and others for your valuable advice. I appreciate it.
 
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