I built a purple heart and maple domino table. The legs are solid purple heart trimmed in maple and the sides are vise versa. The table top is a mix of both. I planned on pouring liquid glass epoxy to finish the table top. Should I do that? Also I read a lot of places I should just use lacquer to finish it. I need something that will keep the purple of my purple heart and will last for years and years. How should I finish my purple heart domino table?
Purple hear will brown no matter what , a good water base finish with some UV absorbers will help. Maple will tan if you use a solvent based finish, Purple heart will brown faster, While not perfect, I would look to a water base finish designed for exterior. It will have the UV absorbers and change the coloring of the wood the least, something like General Finishes Exterior 450, but I feel sure there are others, even an exterior latex paint with no colorants might be an option.
It may depend on the grade of PH you have. Another thing I can say is the 1st time I cut a section of PH I panicked directly after cutting it no longer looked purply/red but brown. I also read to place the fresh cuts in the sun for a couple 3 days and watch it purple right back up. I use Tung oil on pretty much everything I do; it deepens the color and adds depth big time.
This pic was taken 12/14 nearly 2 1/2 yrs after making it. Nice bright sunny day, the color still looks pretty good to me.
It may depend on the grade of PH you have. Another thing I can say is the 1st time I cut a section of PH I panicked directly after cutting it no longer looked purply/red but brown. I also read to place the fresh cuts in the sun for a couple 3 days and watch it purple right back up. I use Tung oil on pretty much everything I do; it deepens the color and adds depth big time.
This pic was taken 12/14 nearly 2 1/2 yrs after making it. Nice bright sunny day, the color still looks pretty good to me.
Hi,
As extracted from the above, "I also read to place the fresh cuts in the sun for a couple 3 days and watch it purple right back up.", I find this observation/suggestion to be confusing. Sunlight contains UV light, and UV light, in itself, is thought by many to be the cause of PH darkening…..Please enlighten me…no pun intended!!
Yeah, this is interesting. A guy at my old woodworking store told me the same thing - fresh cut purple heart doesn't look as good as sun/aged purple heart.
I think it's actually the exposure to oxygen that brightens the purple heart after it's been cut. I've had some fresh cut boards that I put in front of a fan and they seemed to lighten up to purple faster than the ones that didn't get any air circulation.
Crap I never though of that, I did leave them in the pic window, both sidelights were open, I figured it was the UV and heat of the sun drawing the oils back to the surface. Next time I'll do some experimenting to see if one changes quicker.
Now I'm gonna hafta burgle my clients homes for the things I made with PH over the next 3 yrs to keep the lie going.
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