Finishing purpleheart

[BigPigPeaches]

Doing my first project with purpleheart. Apart from this being the densest, most difficult-to-work wood ever, anyone got any tips for finishing? Thanks.

[tedmich]

its not too bad...not nearly as oily as rosewood (cocobola!) and its nice and stiff (Conklin calls it natures CF)

I think a nice naptha wash followed by a solvent based sealer (mcfadden vinyl sealer or lacquer sanding sealer) then either a water based PU or more lacquer to top coat. People report better luck retaining the color with non-water finishes, and with UV resistant finishes. Sun will turn it brown (like Padauk) but mush slower if well sealed and UV blocked. Careful if its laminated to light wood as the purple will "cross contaminate"

[BigPigPeaches]

its not too bad...not nearly as oily as rosewood (cocobola!) and its nice and stiff (Conklin calls it natures CF)

I think a nice naptha wash followed by a solvent based sealer (mcfadden vinyl sealer or lacquer sanding sealer) then either a water based PU or more lacquer to top coat. People report better luck retaining the color with non-water finishes, and with UV resistant finishes. Sun will turn it brown (like Padauk) but mush slower if well sealed and UV blocked. Careful if its laminated to light wood as the purple will "cross contaminate"

Damn...wish I'd known that before I laminated it to birdseye maple. :cry:

Thanks for the input. Hopefully the bleedover won't be too bad.

[Quarter]

Damn...wish I'd known that before I laminated it to birdseye maple. :cry:

Thanks for the input. Hopefully the bleedover won't be too bad.
Sanding can / will grind the purple dust into the maple. You can use a scraper for the final smoothing to minimize color contamination.

[BigPigPeaches]

Sanding can / will grind the purple dust into the maple. You can use a scraper for the final smoothing to minimize color contamination.

Ah...so it's not a "dye leaching" sort of phenomenon from direct contact?

[bali]

The peghead, fingerboard and tailpiece of this dulcimer are Purpleheart. The fret surface is oiled with Walnut Oil and the rest is finished in gloss lacquer. Use a scraper rather than sandpaper.
275152

[tedmich]

Ah...so it's not a "dye leaching" sort of phenomenon from direct contact?

no its the dust grinding into the lighter wood, be careful to sand only one wood at a time with dedicated sandpaper, or scrape as suggested above. A coat of shellac on the maple can shield it a bit.

Do you want the purple to stay or RU OK with the darkening? Dulcimer looks dark but it may be the photo..

Oh and there are woods harder and denser than PH... some Ipe will trash carbide blades in a trice and its JANKA (hardness) score is only a little lower than lignum vitae, its prettier though and relatively cheap (it starts off brown..)

My next neck through will be quartersawn wenge and curly rock maple, with a Madagascar ebony board

[bali]

Yes, the dulcimer is dark. The raw wood had a purple-brown color and it has aged more to brown. I inherited a 1"x6"x4' board that had been exposed to the air for several years. The sound box is African Mahogany, unstained.

The wood can be a pain to machine because it splinters and cracks easily, use sharp tools and work slowly.