purple heart door

Remember the sun will turn purple heart turn brown.

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

padauk is a really good looking wood and fun to work with ,don’t know what the sun would do to it .

-- Roper - master of sawdust-

roper, padauk also turns a brownish color when it is aged. how about cherry, that would be beautiful with the sun on it all day it would be fully aged in a week of two.

I’d stick with magohany. It’s a known quantity.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

ya id have to agree with Gary, maybe you could make like a mini door with all the different woods and just stick them out side and see what happens.

Agree with Gary. Mahogany is the way to go. Good looks and very stable.

-- There is no such thing as scrap wood!, http://www.saltrivergallery.com

You may consider laminating, mahogany exterior and purple heart interior?

-- Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit.

I spent a bit of time working with PH on my workbench and it’s a bit of a pain. I started referring to it as Porcupine wood due to all the little slivers I picked up during the project. Once planed/sanded with finish on it, no problem, but it’s prickly stuff while working on it. One thought is that a door made from it is going to be extremely heavy. I dont know if you’d need to have sturdier door framing or hinges but it sure couldn’t hurt.

-- Use the fence Luke

I really like Trifern’s idea! The only way I can think of protecting Purpleheart from UV damage is butting some opaque material on it…kind of ruins the impact though. UV-resistant finishes just inhibit UV rays, and the door will turn brow eventually. Hey, it might look like, I’ve definitely never seen a PH door. You might want to consider Doug’s comment, PH weighs like a rock!

PH weight: ~58 pounds/cubic foot
Granite wight: ~162 pounds/cubic foot

Ok, maybe not quite, but it’s damn heavy!

You could keep the purple heart “Purple” by using a dye on it before finishing. Just a suggestion…..

-- Chris

great info and suggestions everybody!i am glad i asked.i work in a mill shop, and we usually build exterior doors out of mahogany, western red cedar, and sapele.sapele is my favorite , because of the beautiful ribbons, and it is cheaper than mahogany.i thought of using doug fir, but the thought of using ph was intruiging.brazilian cherry is a maybe, but very hard, and very heavy.these are for my house , so i am trying to do something special.any pics out there for a padouk door?

i am looking for an idea to rip thick sapele lumber that is 3” thick or better. my table saw is not happy.is there a resaw that is small enough to have in a home shop?does anyone have any ideas ?