220grit writes:

Hi, I'm making some varnished rope bins for a sailboat deck out of
purple heart and mahogany.
The ph looks fabulous when I get it but after I sand out the planing
marks and mill it the purple color fades to kind of a dirty gray. What
am I doing wrong? Heat from the orbital sander? Is there a way to
restore the color? I'm kind of new to this. Thank you for your time.

Wait. The Purpleheart is not purple inside, it becomes so when exposed
to light, so after milling you expose fresh, unpurpled wood.
After a few days it should be fine.

--
Dr. Juergen Hannappel http://lisa2.physik.uni-bonn.de/~hannappe
Phone: +49 228 73 2447 FAX ... 7869
Physikalisches Institut der Uni Bonn Nussallee 12, D-53115 Bonn, Germany
CERN: Phone: +412276 76461 Fax: ..77930 Bat. 892-R-A13 CH-1211 Geneve 23

On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 08:14:19 +0100, Juergen Hannappel
scribbled:

220grit writes:

Hi, I'm making some varnished rope bins for a sailboat deck out of
purple heart and mahogany.
The ph looks fabulous when I get it but after I sand out the planing
marks and mill it the purple color fades to kind of a dirty gray. What
am I doing wrong? Heat from the orbital sander? Is there a way to
restore the color? I'm kind of new to this. Thank you for your time.

Wait. The Purpleheart is not purple inside, it becomes so when exposed
to light, so after milling you expose fresh, unpurpled wood.
After a few days it should be fine.

Like Juergen said, wait, it'll turn purple again soon. However, on
some purpleheart, the colour might fade after a few years. No way of
telling which kind you got, as far as I know.

Luigi
Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address
www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/humour.html
www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/antifaq.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...ct_Woodworking

My understanding is that UV light causes it to turn brown. Sanding it will
turn it back to purple. I have used exterior finish with UV inhibitors to
keep it purple.
max

On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 08:14:19 +0100, Juergen Hannappel
scribbled:

220grit writes:

Hi, I'm making some varnished rope bins for a sailboat deck out of
purple heart and mahogany.
The ph looks fabulous when I get it but after I sand out the planing
marks and mill it the purple color fades to kind of a dirty gray. What
am I doing wrong? Heat from the orbital sander? Is there a way to
restore the color? I'm kind of new to this. Thank you for your time.

Wait. The Purpleheart is not purple inside, it becomes so when exposed
to light, so after milling you expose fresh, unpurpled wood.
After a few days it should be fine.

Like Juergen said, wait, it'll turn purple again soon. However, on
some purpleheart, the colour might fade after a few years. No way of
telling which kind you got, as far as I know.

Luigi
Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address
www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/humour.html
www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/antifaq.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...ct_Woodworking

"Juergen Hannappel" wrote in message
...


Wait. The Purpleheart is not purple inside, it becomes so when exposed
to light, so after milling you expose fresh, unpurpled wood.
After a few days it should be fine.


Actually it can be purple inside. I have seen it go both ways. My last
batch the inside was as purple as the outside. Other batches became very
dark purple imediately at the cut and turned brown as it aged inside and not
exposed to light.






--
Dr. Juergen Hannappel http://lisa2.physik.uni-bonn.de/~hannappe
Phone: +49 228 73 2447 FAX ... 7869
Physikalisches Institut der Uni Bonn Nussallee 12, D-53115 Bonn, Germany
CERN: Phone: +412276 76461 Fax: ..77930 Bat. 892-R-A13 CH-1211 Geneve 23