Need Advice on Feature Ring Wood Choice

[Jim Bennett]

I've been making pretty basic segmented bowls for the past couple of years. My main wood species have been maple and some walnut. Several times I've used padauk in the feature rings and the results have been disappointing. Used as a top ring, all is fine with the padauk. However, when I have a ring with alternating maple (light colored) and padauk (red colored), the padauk dust bleeds over into the maple segments giving them a pink tint when I sand. I'm pretty much done using padauk in my feature rings because of that - is there another colorful wood that I can use that isn't going to cause that problem? What happens with purpleheart - does it also bleed colored dust onto its neighbors?

Thanks, Jim

p.s. - I do use a coat of sanding sealer on the bowls, but this is after doing the sanding and prior to applying polyurethane. What would happen if the sanding sealer is applied BEFORE I sand?

 

[Gary Beasley]

Sanding sealer will help with the bleed problem, be sure and let it dry good before sanding, even then it will probably clog the sandpaper pretty quick.

 

[Mark Jundanian]

@Jim Bennett, are you on the Segmented Woodturners forum? They might be able to give you some more info.

https://segmentedwoodturners.org/wppaspec/oc1/cv0/ab1/pt28

 

[David Shombert]

One thing to be aware of about purpleheart - it does not retain its original color. It turns sort of brown with age.

 

[Tom Gall]

It's been many years, but if I recall correctly I think Bloodwood will work better. It's more dense, finer grained, and I don't think it loses it's color nearly as much. I don't think the color runs as easily as Padauk either. But, as I said....it has been many years - so don't blame me if it doesn't work for you!

 

[David Shombert]

Tom is right - bloodwood would be a good choice. I"ve been using some of it lately and I find it cuts nicely (with sharp tools) and sands easily. Don't know why I didn't think to suggest it.