Purpleheart Finishing Tips

[dwilli9013]

Hi all,
Just bought a large piece of purpleheart the other day for an upcoming project. I am looking for any finishing tips that you may have for this piece. It will not be outside or in direct sun light.
I want to maintain the natural beauty and tone of the wood.

Also I have not carved on purpleheart as yet with a CNC and would welcome any tips in that arena as well.
I know it's a beautiful piece of wood and I don't want to ruin it do to my inexperience with this material.

Thanks in advance.
Dwayne

[Mike-S]

It cuts great, no fuzzies. If you're doing 3D, keep stepover around 7 or 8 so no sanding required. I've used Minwax Natural stain (clear). If you want more gloss then add a coat or two of Walnut oil.

[dwilli9013]

Thanks Mike,
As dense as this material is I was hoping it would cut well. Have not tried walnut oil as yet. Perhaps I will give it a go.
Thanks again
Dwayne

[ElevationCreations]

Keep your feed rate fast enough to prevent burning. For reference, it is similar to hard maple for feeds and speeds in our experience.

[Rcnewcomb]

After a few years it will gradually turn brown. UV makes it turn brown faster.

[ZipperHead55]

I'm new to the CNC game and fine woodworking in general, but I heard a tip from the lumberyard people when I bought a piece of purpleheart for upcoming projects: a finish with UV protection to protect it from UV damage; and if the colour does fade, a bit of time in the sunlight. Those might be polar opposites, in terms of what is best done with purpleheart, but I suspect the time in direct sunlight might be a means of evenning out the colours after indirect sunlight exposure. YMMV

Allan

[scottp55]

Dwayne..FYI
Cuts great with a sharp cutter. Be careful power sanding as it will change color badly if to much heat accumulates. Also if router table or hand held router is used for a roundover...keep moving Fast!
http://www.wood-database.com/purpleheart/

http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/preventing-color-changes-in-exotic-woods/

[dwilli9013]

Thanks all,
@Scott thanks for the link that clears thinks up a bit for all types of exotics as well.
I have started the project and it is going smoothly thus far. Had to slow things down quite a bit though as first pass wanted to chatter.

[scottp55]

Dwayne,
Just a couple pics of freshly sanded, and the color one week later. Shop gets a lot of direct PM sunlight in February.
Actually ran across one of these buttons a couple months ago that went AWOL while sanding 3 years ago....it wound up in a dark closet, and had gotten covered up..Zilch sun or halogen lights...It was almost identical to the second pic in color. It hadn't been finished in any way, so I'm thinking it's almost all UV related.
scott