Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
Purpleheart
Tom Mullane
>Does anyone have a really good idea for keeping purpleheart purple... sometimes my purplehearts stay nice, but most often they have a decidedly browninsh tint to them...
I want to make a pen for a special friend and she loves purpleheart.. I would like the color to stay real nice...
Re: Purpleheart
Andrew Hilton
>The only way to really keep it purple is to dye it, unfortunately. Same goes for the flame in Boxelder, Pink Ivory, Osage Orange and many many other woods.
You can try to use UV inhibitors in your finishes or use a UV inhibiting finish to begin with (some automotive lacquers for example) but it's only going to slow it down just a bit ... not stop it. People, including myself, have even used Armor-All automotive protectant (it has UV protectors in it) over our finishes and it doesn't do much of anything. Same goes for sunblocks and all sorts of things. No difference.
Ron Fleming doesn't fight it and just air brushes these woods to match their existing colorations.
