Stabilizing purpleheart

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Gary Beasley

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Marietta, Ga. USA
Anybody have any experience stabilizing purpleheart? I'd like to know if the color comes up during oven drying and the curing bake and if the color lasts. I'm aiming to try it out sometime this week just to see, if no one can add anything I'll post what I find out.
 
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I've thrown some pen blank size pieces in, got the resin to pull in about 1/8" so no benefit there and it will really turn your resin purple to black and anything else you put in with it.
 
Yes, I have stabilized purpleheart and achieved a 8% weight increase. I did not have the change in color to my Juice and the piece did not change in color due to the heat. As a pen maker, I too do not see the need to stabilize hard woods like this but it is useful for knifemakers where their stuff is subject to much harsher environments. I can not comment on the wood keeping its color over time but would expect it to react just like any other piece of purpleheart. The color change over time is due to UV exposure and stabilizing does not block UV, at least not Cactus Juice.
 
Thanks for the input. I'm going to be making knife scales so anything I can do to increase the hardness and polish will help. I've gotten some pretty good deep purple by roasting a piece almost to scorching it but don't know really what temperature to heat it to make it happen.
 
I cut a few slices and going by Curtis recollection the 200F bake wouldn't do the color change I took the wood to the kitchen toaster and baked it at 450F for 16 minutes. About the 12 minute mark the wood started to darken considerably. I now have it in the basement oven at 200F for an overnight bake to get the water gone. The picture shows the baked slice laying on the slab it was cut from to compare the color change. It will be interesting to see if the color changes any more overnight.
 

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Wow! I just found out something about purpleheart I never heard of. I cut a pendant out of a scrap on my scrollsaw and popped it into the oven at 450F for 16 minutes just like I did on the previous knife scales but instead of that rich purple went all the way to a deep black with a slight tinge of purple. So there is a lower temperature I need to find that will take it to purple without going completely black. The picture is the pendant dropped back in to the scrap to show the color change. It looks shiny because I dipped it in Woodturners Finish.
 

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Try in the 100* range Gary...leaving mine in the sun for a few hours does the trick, but you may not have much sun during parts of the year!
 
Jim Burr said:
Try in the 100* range Gary...leaving mine in the sun for a few hours does the trick, but you may not have much sun during parts of the year!
Click to expand...

Not sure that would do anything. The sunlight trick is supposed to be UV light doing a surface change. The 200F bake in the stabilizing oven does little to it according to Curtis. Next try will be 350F and see if the color will change.
 
I do a lot of PH pepper mills, so a lot of wood to return to color. It's an oxidation process, but not sure if it's heat or light...not to many ovens put out UV's. Curious to see your results...might solve some problems during the winter here.
 
I got the scales out of the toaster and the stabilized wood is harder than the unstabilized, reminds me of ipe the way the pieces click together when handling them. They did get just a little darker. I was a bit worried when I pulled them from the tank they looked nearly black. The color did come back after the curing at least.
I wonder if any of the other color woods exhibit changes on heating like purpleheart does..it would open up possibilties for more variety.
 
Gary Beasley said:
Wow! I just found out something about purpleheart I never heard of. I cut a pendant out of a scrap on my scrollsaw and popped it into the oven at 450F for 16 minutes just like I did on the previous knife scales but instead of that rich purple went all the way to a deep black with a slight tinge of purple. So there is a lower temperature I need to find that will take it to purple without going completely black. The picture is the pendant dropped back in to the scrap to show the color change. It looks shiny because I dipped it in Woodturners Finish.
Click to expand...

Why are you cooking it at 450? It doesn't taste good.
 
steve worcester said:
Gary Beasley said:
Wow! I just found out something about purpleheart I never heard of. I cut a pendant out of a scrap on my scrollsaw and popped it into the oven at 450F for 16 minutes just like I did on the previous knife scales but instead of that rich purple went all the way to a deep black with a slight tinge of purple. So there is a lower temperature I need to find that will take it to purple without going completely black. The picture is the pendant dropped back in to the scrap to show the color change. It looks shiny because I dipped it in Woodturners Finish.
Click to expand...

Why are you cooking it at 450? It doesn't taste good.
Click to expand...

With a little Worchestershire sauce it's not too bad...
 
Use good old sunshine to show the true color of your purpleheart. Why bother trying to burn your house down. A friend of mine from Miami was given a length of 8 X 8 purpleheart and asked where it came from. It was from the pier and dock where a wealthy man lived. The entire dock was made of purpleheart timbers because of its' resistance to salt water.
 
I usually work my Purpleheart to size, then hang it up outside for a day or so (until I see no more change). Then I apply the finish. I do make sure to rotate it, otherwise the bottom stays brown.

Add: I bought a decent sized slab at WC for $5 yesterday, so I'll play with that for color. I won't do any stabilizing though.
 
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