I lost the purple in purple heart

[DennisM]

A friend brought over a bucket of scrap purple heart last weekend. This find fit in well with my current focus on Christmas Ornaments. Problem is in the finishing. I turned and hollowed a 1 3/4 globe and finished it with the Beale System. At the end the globe was nice and shiny, but I had lost the purple! Color is more mahogany than purple. I suspect that the rubbing compound and wax of the Beale system impacted the final color.
I would like to finish the globes to high shine while preserving the purple coloration.

Any suggestions?

Dennis Belcher

 

[john lucas]

Just put it out in the sunshine, it will come back. Fresh cut purple heart is always really light in color. The deep purple will come back with exposure to UV light.

 

[dkulze]

You can also fume the wood with Muratic Acid (pool cleaner). Put it in a glass jar with a small amount of the acid seperate from it. It will turn an eye-popping bright purple. Do it before finishing. Don't know if it will affect any glueups)

Dietrich

 

[MichaelMouse]

Thought for a moment you were speaking of the medal no one wants to earn. Oxidation, with the help of UV does seem counter to the idea of treating with a reduction agent like acid, unless it's another of those oxidation state things like Fe++ to Fe+++.

 

[Frank Kobilsek]

Only works once

John
That only works once, right? Put it in the sun until it is as purple as you want then keep it out of the sun there after. That's my understanding.
Frank

 

[DennisM]

Out of the basement

Gentlemen;
Thank you for your suggestions. I will move the globe from my basement studio to the full sun of the porch. Glad the answer is so simple.
Thanks
Dennis

 

[john lucas]

Frank I don't know. I've had my pieces in and out of the sun for years and the purple doesn't seem to change anymore. Of course I don't have a control piece laying around to check with but it doesn't seem to have changed since the initial first few months of exposure.
Paduak on the other hand gets really dark after a few years and so does Osage orange.

 

[jbburgoon]

Providing the purple power

On a whim one day when needing to accelerate the color change of purpleheart, I tried putting a piece into the oven. Baked it at 350 for 10 to 15 minutes. The results were fabulous. Don't try this in the microwave as the heat distribution is very uneven. Keep an eye on it, as it will continue to darken even after you take it out of the oven. One of my students turned a pen blank completly black by using this method with purpleheart. A word of caution, do not try this with laminated pieces as most wood glues weaken with heat.

 

[KenN]

Speaking of Padauk, does anyone have a method for preserving its color?

 

[john lucas]

If your talking about the bright orange color you get when you first cut it, no. I've tried several different finishes and none worked. I didn't try a high UV finish like spar varnish because I don't like the color of the finish.

 

[Richard Baker]

When finished with urethane varnish padauk turns dark red. In some pieces that I did in '91 thru '93 the padauk has aged to a very dark brown and is virtually the same color as the wenge in the same pieces. In an open segment piece done in 6-05 and finished with spray lacquer, the padauk is still a medium-dark orange-ish red, still recognizeable as padauk and about the same color as it was immediately after applying the lacquer.

 

[KenN]

Has anyone tried a UV finish (Spar Varnish) or adding a UV filter to an oil or urethane varnish?

 

[Bigrhackler]

puting purple back in purple

hi ,,I do a little pen turning using purple heart,,, had same problem was told to rough turn it and then put it in the oven at low temp .hang your project with some thing in the oven this did work well with very little time,,,,then I finished turning and finished my pens>>>>>>>>>>> after it cooled down of corse bigRon

 

[Richard Baker]

UV Inhibiter

Ken,
Some of the urethane varnish I used in early '90's was "exterior grade" which supposedly contained UV absorber or inhibiter additives. Have no evidence that it was any better than the "interior" grade. But that was 15 years ago, and is reasonable to assume that paint/varnish chemistry has improved somewhat since then.

 

[KenN]

Richard,

Thanks. It looks like some experimenting is in order.

 

[KenN]

Do you pen turners out there have any way to preserve Padauk? It seems that pen colors are pretty stable. I figure you folks must have some secrets hidden away.