purple heart

[Peter Blair]

I have read and googled just about everything I could think of to see if anyone out there has had success in keeping the 'purple' in Purple Heart. I have some small pieces and am considering using it for jewelry and highlight but hate the thought of telling customers that it will turn brown with age.

Have any of you had any luck? I read that apparently it is a function of UV and oxidization?

I have posted this elsewhere and the responses I got were disappointing in that no one could really help me.

[Richard Dooling]

This isn't the answer you want but unfortunately you can only delay the color shift. I like orange osage but it also turns to a radically different color.

http://www.wood-database.com/purpleheart/
http://www.wood-database.com/wood-ar...-exotic-woods/

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

I have never worked with purple heart, but I have worked with other woods that are red and slightly purple. Eastern Red cedar, mineral stained poplar. The only one that maintained a semblance of it's color without turning a shade of brown, was a piece of wild damson wood. A neighbor had a fair size tree and a storm knocked out a branch. I cut the branch up and used the cross sections for carving. I used one piece to plug the wide end of a powder horn. It had purple, red, orange and yellow rings that looked a bit like a giant eye. I finished the wood with linspeed and the colors stayed for over 20 years. Lost the powder horn when my shop burned.

[John K Jordan]

I have read and googled just about everything I could think of to see if anyone out there has had success in keeping the 'purple' in Purple Heart. I have some small pieces and am considering using it for jewelry and highlight but hate the thought of telling customers that it will turn brown with age.
Have any of you had any luck? I read that apparently it is a function of UV and oxidization?
I have posted this elsewhere and the responses I got were disappointing in that no one could really help me.

Peter,

I've used a lot of purple heart over the years and have done some tests. Most purpleheart I've had is brown when freshly cut, turns purple fairly quickly, then turns brownish again slowly then gradually darkens over the years. As the Wood Database article implies, trying to stop this is like trying to stop a freight train.

My tests: I put pieces on a shelf in a place with fairly low light, with access to air on one side and a little block covering part of the tops. In a month or so they turned from brown to purple everywhere exposed to air. I put other pieces where they could get direct sunlight and a lot of UV - they turned purple very quickly. Based on this it SEEMS like both oxidation and UV might affect it.

I've turned some pieces and applied various finishes after they turned purple. They did stay purple longer but after a few years the purple faded and went towards darker purple/brown.

That said, a few years ago I got a hold of some purpleheart that was entirely different. It was a beautiful purple even when freshly cut. It stayed purple. Several years later it is still a great purple! Two things:
1) I have no idea if it is really purpleheart, some unusual variety of purpleheart, or some other species. Sure looks like purpleheart though.
2) I sure wish I could get some more! (I still have some in a carefully guarded undisclosed location.)

Unfortunately there doesn't see to be much you can do to preserve the purple in most purpleheart for an extended time. Several coats of finish to seal out the oxygen seems to help. Keeping it away from strong light source will help but who wants to store their art in the closet? While you're at it, might as well put it in a sealed chamber and fill with nitrogen to displace the air!

A possible solution: Do what people sometimes do with rapidly fading colors such as the red in boxelder - apply a good colorfast dye to the finished piece! Then topcoat with finish. This may seem like cheating but it's certainly not immoral.

I didn't test this with purpleheart but working with cocobolo I accidentally discovered what kind of finish NOT to use. I put some "danish" oil on some cocobolo with beautiful orange and red figure. In a year it had turned as black as ebony while other pieces finished with shellac and even no finish at all had darkened somewhat but still had some color. If you want to use any colored wood extensively, it might be a good idea to prepare sample boards and apply different finishes on different bands and see how they hold up over a few years. Label well!

All this reminds me of something I read many years ago: in 100 years all wood will have turned black!

BTW, I talked with a guy from South America who exported wood. He could not believe the North American fascination with Purpleheart. This guy sold wood and bowls but never used purpleheart although it was commonly available and very cheap. He said in his part of the world purpleheart is used for things like floor joists in house framing. Odd thing: the most valued wood for those with money was knotty pine!

JKJ

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I have turned some Purple Heart and I knew about and did notice the color change, I have a piece that does show the change, as I kept this piece, though when I made the first pictures the box was already 5 years old, so I don’t have the original color but that of it after 5 years.

This is the box I made from White ash with a Purple Hearth lid, I made pictures 5 years after I had turned the piece, I made it in 2003 and the pictures are from 2008, they show the outside color of the lid and the inside color, the box stands inside our house and not close to the windows, but it still changed the color, it still is Purple somewhat like you see in the picture

But the difference between the inside and outside is remarkable, the inside color isn’t as purple it was after I had turned it, so I assume that not only UV, but also oxidation plays a role in the discolouration, but can’t prove that of course.

White Ash & Purple Hearth.jpg Purple Heart lid.jpg Purple Heart lid inside.jpg