Hi, I'm making some varnished rope bins for a sailboat deck out of
purple heart and mahogany.
The ph looks fabulous when I get it but after I sand out the planing
marks and mill it the purple color fades to kind of a dirty gray. What
am I doing wrong? Heat from the orbital sander? Is there a way to
restore the color? I'm kind of new to this. Thank you for your time.
The purple will come with sunlight. I put small turnings in the
cupholder in the armrest of my truck and the colour is back in a day.
To keep the colour, I have read about using Armoural since the UV
blockers in this are supposed to help. I have just tried this recently
so I do not have any long term results yet.
Brad Harding
hardingpens.com
My understanding is that UV light causes it to turn brown. Sanding it will
turn it back to purple. I have used exterior finish with UV inhibitors to
keep it purple.
max
> On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 08:14:19 +0100, Juergen Hannappel
> <[email protected]> scribbled:
>
>> 220grit <[email protected]> writes:
>>
>>> Hi, I'm making some varnished rope bins for a sailboat deck out of
>>> purple heart and mahogany.
>>> The ph looks fabulous when I get it but after I sand out the planing
>>> marks and mill it the purple color fades to kind of a dirty gray. What
>>> am I doing wrong? Heat from the orbital sander? Is there a way to
>>> restore the color? I'm kind of new to this. Thank you for your time.
>>
>> Wait. The Purpleheart is not purple inside, it becomes so when exposed
>> to light, so after milling you expose fresh, unpurpled wood.
>> After a few days it should be fine.
>
> Like Juergen said, wait, it'll turn purple again soon. However, on
> some purpleheart, the colour might fade after a few years. No way of
> telling which kind you got, as far as I know.
>
> Luigi
> Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address
> www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/humour.html
> www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/antifaq.html
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Woodworking
As I remember from the same discussion several years ago, purple heart
is a common name for about 6 different trees. The response of the wood
may depend on the particular tree the wood came from.
You can look at a stack of purple heart and see at least a couple
different color tones in the different boards. I once made the mistake
of buying a plank then going back to get another and ended up with two
different purple hearts. The jewelry box never did look right.
I've had a plank in the garage near the door for several years. It has
kept its color. When I cut it it turned brown but within a week it was
back to a nice color again for finishing of the jewelry boxes.
220grit wrote:
> Hi, I'm making some varnished rope bins for a sailboat deck out of
> purple heart and mahogany.
> The ph looks fabulous when I get it but after I sand out the planing
> marks and mill it the purple color fades to kind of a dirty gray. What
> am I doing wrong? Heat from the orbital sander? Is there a way to
> restore the color? I'm kind of new to this. Thank you for your time.
"Juergen Hannappel" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Wait. The Purpleheart is not purple inside, it becomes so when exposed
> to light, so after milling you expose fresh, unpurpled wood.
> After a few days it should be fine.
Actually it can be purple inside. I have seen it go both ways. My last
batch the inside was as purple as the outside. Other batches became very
dark purple imediately at the cut and turned brown as it aged inside and not
exposed to light.
> --
> Dr. Juergen Hannappel http://lisa2.physik.uni-bonn.de/~hannappe
> mailto:[email protected] Phone: +49 228 73 2447 FAX ... 7869
> Physikalisches Institut der Uni Bonn Nussallee 12, D-53115 Bonn, Germany
> CERN: Phone: +412276 76461 Fax: ..77930 Bat. 892-R-A13 CH-1211 Geneve 23
>
On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 08:14:19 +0100, Juergen Hannappel
<[email protected]> scribbled:
>220grit <[email protected]> writes:
>
>> Hi, I'm making some varnished rope bins for a sailboat deck out of
>> purple heart and mahogany.
>> The ph looks fabulous when I get it but after I sand out the planing
>> marks and mill it the purple color fades to kind of a dirty gray. What
>> am I doing wrong? Heat from the orbital sander? Is there a way to
>> restore the color? I'm kind of new to this. Thank you for your time.
>
>Wait. The Purpleheart is not purple inside, it becomes so when exposed
>to light, so after milling you expose fresh, unpurpled wood.
>After a few days it should be fine.
Like Juergen said, wait, it'll turn purple again soon. However, on
some purpleheart, the colour might fade after a few years. No way of
telling which kind you got, as far as I know.
Luigi
Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address
www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/humour.html
www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/antifaq.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Woodworking
On Tue, 08 Nov 2005 02:29:45 GMT, max <[email protected]> wrote:
>My understanding is that UV light causes it to turn brown. Sanding it will
>turn it back to purple. I have used exterior finish with UV inhibitors to
>keep it purple.
>max
Hmm, conflicting responses here. The only living example of purple
heart I saw was on a boat deck. It had turned a dirty grey brown after
being on deck unvarnished about 3 years, which would seem to support
your idea. It was very sturdy. I may try buffing it back to a
brilliant luster. Thanks.
>
>> On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 08:14:19 +0100, Juergen Hannappel
>> <[email protected]> scribbled:
>>
>>> 220grit <[email protected]> writes:
>>>
>>>> Hi, I'm making some varnished rope bins for a sailboat deck out of
>>>> purple heart and mahogany.
>>>> The ph looks fabulous when I get it but after I sand out the planing
>>>> marks and mill it the purple color fades to kind of a dirty gray. What
>>>> am I doing wrong? Heat from the orbital sander? Is there a way to
>>>> restore the color? I'm kind of new to this. Thank you for your time.
>>>
>>> Wait. The Purpleheart is not purple inside, it becomes so when exposed
>>> to light, so after milling you expose fresh, unpurpled wood.
>>> After a few days it should be fine.
>>
>> Like Juergen said, wait, it'll turn purple again soon. However, on
>> some purpleheart, the colour might fade after a few years. No way of
>> telling which kind you got, as far as I know.
>>
>> Luigi
>> Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address
>> www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/humour.html
>> www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/antifaq.html
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Woodworking
On Tue, 08 Nov 2005 00:04:14 -0500, Greg G.<[email protected]> wrote:
>220grit said:
>
>>How do you keep purple heart purple?
>
>Reenlist!
>
>Sorry, couldn't help myself...
>
>You already know the answer, grasshopper - patience!
>Oxygen, possibly light exposure, and time.
>
>
>Greg G.
10,000 men, she screwed that day,..
but only one, won the green baret,..
weeeee,...
220grit <[email protected]> writes:
> Hi, I'm making some varnished rope bins for a sailboat deck out of
> purple heart and mahogany.
> The ph looks fabulous when I get it but after I sand out the planing
> marks and mill it the purple color fades to kind of a dirty gray. What
> am I doing wrong? Heat from the orbital sander? Is there a way to
> restore the color? I'm kind of new to this. Thank you for your time.
Wait. The Purpleheart is not purple inside, it becomes so when exposed
to light, so after milling you expose fresh, unpurpled wood.
After a few days it should be fine.
--
Dr. Juergen Hannappel http://lisa2.physik.uni-bonn.de/~hannappe
mailto:[email protected] Phone: +49 228 73 2447 FAX ... 7869
Physikalisches Institut der Uni Bonn Nussallee 12, D-53115 Bonn, Germany
CERN: Phone: +412276 76461 Fax: ..77930 Bat. 892-R-A13 CH-1211 Geneve 23