john lucas

Here is one of my latest hand mirrors. It is purple heart with a yellow heart ring inserted into it. When you glue the ring in I have a problem with the hydraulic pressure from the glue spitting the ring back out so I drill a bunch of holes in the body to give the glue somewhere to go. The mirror glass on the other side will cover up these holes. Before I started doing this I actually broke a ring trying to hold it down with clamps.

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frankp

Very nice piece. I love working with purpleheart. It has such an amazing color, though it looks like you may have finished it before allowing some of the more obvious purple to return. I've found if I let mine sit in the air for a bit the reddish brown turns back to the drastic purple a bit. Either way, I like the color, but letting some expose to purple again gives a bit of color variation that can be quite nice.

john lucas

Frank I find that it gets more purple as it ages even after it's finished. I did leave it in the sun for a day before finishing and it changed a lot.

mdlbldrmatt135

Paduk seems to do the same as the Purpleheart............ Stunning piece!!!

john lucas

Padauk goes from an almost orange color to deep burgundy in about a year or two. I love the look but the wood dust stains me and everything in the shop. I also feel like I have to let them sit until they have changed color considerably so the customer won't be dissatisfied.
The same is true with Osage Orange. Items sell in a heartbeat when they are bright yellow but I know it will turn tannish yellow very quickly so I don't sell things until some of the bright color is gone. I have a friend who makes high end rocking horses and he won't even make one out of Osage because of the color change.