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Doug Miller

In article ,
says...
So, I ordered 20 board feet of purpleheart expecting to get the usual 3 to
6 inch widths. Got some of that, but also got one board 12 inches wide
and 66 inches long. What a surprise. Now I just need to figure out what
to do with it. Clearly something decorative. I was going to build some
boxes thought purpleheart and maple would look good together.

Indeed they do -- the combination can be stunning. One caveat, though: a
few others have warned here that purpleheart turns brown with age. My
experience (and that of most of the people who have posted on the
subject) is the opposite: that it's brown when fresh-cut, and develops
its rich purple color through exposure to sunlight. The consensus seems
to be that there are two varieties of purpleheart, one which ages brown,
and one which ages purple. Probably best to verify which you have before
using it in a project.

Cut a small piece off of the board(s) you want to test, and expose the
test piece(s) to sunlight. If the fresh-cut surfaces started out brown,
and turn purple in the sun, they will [probably] stay that way.

A Google Groups search on purpleheart in this newsgroup should locate
the earlier discussions.