I making another end grain cutting board. I'll be using Maple, Walnut, and Purpleheart. The end grain of the Purpleheart looks a lot like the end grain of the Walnut, right after it is cut. But the same happens when I plain the Purpleheart. Then it slowly goes back to looking purple. Has any one else experienced this? I hope I'm not crazy. I also hope that the end grain turns purple.




Eric Williams

Don't worry Eric,
you're not going crazy. That's normal for purpleheart to change from brown back to purple when exposed to light.
Mike Hawkins

I made a few cutting boards for gifts and it took about 4-5 days for the purple to come out and be noticeable. One of the cutting boards is at my brother in laws and now that its been a few months it very purple. Just takes time. In fact when turning pens with Purple Heart, I try and wait for about a month before I put a finish on them. It seems to allow them to get a richer color purple.

You can speed up the process with purpleheart pieces by cooking them. See my site for details.

Purpleheart is brown when sanded or planed or any time you expose new surface to the atmosphere.

Once exposed the surface will turn to purple with exposure to UV, and with enough exposure the purple will become a dark brown/purple.

End grain purpleheart after sanding will become purple. However once you apply any finish on end grain purpleheart it will become a very dark purple, perhaps darker than you desire. It is the nature of the beast.

Can I still cook it when it has been glued to walnut and maple? My instinct says no, but that us usually wrong!

Eric Williams

Never tried that but I'd bet against it being a good idea.

What do you mean by cooking?

Broiling. See my site.

cut jatoba and you see white and within an hour exposed to sunlight it turns bright red. Be careful not to stack boards in a manner that boards will get sunlight unevenly.