Purpleheart and Ironwood

[Ken Massingale]

I picked up a chunk of Purpleheart to do some pens and small vessels. I'm reading that it will turn brown. I have loads of brown wood, I wanted purple!![}] Is there anything reliable that I can do to make it stay purple?

Also, I snagged a few pieces of 'Ironwood' from a buddy's woodpile. It's very dense, heavy as heck for a given size. Have any of you turned any of this?

Thanks for any information.
ken

[scmhogg]

Ken,

I love working with Purpleheart. I was also lucky enough to have been given 30-40 BF by a friend who built a staircase out of it for a very rich client.

I also read that PH eventually turns brown. I plane, scrape or sand to a fresh surface just before I finish. I have stuff I made three years ago that I finished with poly. The color has darkened a little, but it is still a lovely deep shade of purple. Even the pieces that I finished with Danish oil and wax remain purple, albeit a little darker.

I am a very infrequent turner, however, I found that ironwood is much like ebony in that it is very hard on sharp tools. It seems that most very hard dense woods get their luster from the presence of silica. The upside is that you can polish the wood to an high gloss without any finish.

Steve

[autiger1]

Ironwood is IPE. Don't know how it turns...but it is very dense.

Tom

[Pappy]

Fresh sanded /milled purpleheart will haf a brown color. Expose it to sunlight to bring back the purple hue. When it is the color you want, apply a finish with a UV protectant.

[Ken Massingale]

Thanks Steve, Tom and Pappy.
ken