# How much purpleheart does a guy really need?



## muleskinner (Sep 24, 2011)

Pulled up to the lumberyard warehouse to load a couple sheets of plywood and this was just inside the door.


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

Looks like someone's ready for timber framing.


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## madts (Dec 30, 2011)

I would hate to move that pile. This stuff does not even float.

-Madts.


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## Kazooman (Jan 20, 2013)

I worked one summer in a lumberyard that sold timbers when I was a kid. I can attest to the fact that the beam that is sold is always at the bottom of the stack, just like in the picture.


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## shipwright (Sep 27, 2010)

Those may seem like big pieces if you are thinking furniture but in our area at least (Pacifif Northwest) Purpleheart has become the go-to material for major structural boat parts like stems, keels, etc. since the disappearance of Malaysian Gumwood. It may also be replacing MG in pile drivers. 
You live in a very wooden boat loving area so I'm sure those timbers will be put to very good use.


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## AZWoody (Jan 18, 2015)

> Those may seem like big pieces if you are thinking furniture but in our area at least (Pacifif Northwest) Purpleheart has become the go-to material for major structural boat parts like stems, keels, etc. since the disappearance of Malaysian Gumwood. It may also be replacing MG in pile drivers.
> You live in a very wooden boat loving area so I'm sure those timbers will be put to very good use.
> 
> - shipwright


Are the prices lower per board foot as they're being used on a more bulk, and generic construction basis up there?


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## stevepeterson (Dec 17, 2009)

Wow, those are some large PH timbers. I wonder how long they would take to dry without cracking.


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## Kazooman (Jan 20, 2013)

The markings on the big one in the back near the bottom say 14" X 18" X 23'. That has to weigh a ton.


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## Phil32 (Aug 31, 2018)

I hope the logs were obtained legally. A few years ago on a boat trip on the upper Amazon, we observed locals that had felled and rafted up exotic logs to sell to a mill downriver in Iquitos (Peru). Most of this activity was illegal. If we encourage this commerce we face a time when Purpleheart is controlled like Ivory.


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## JohnDi (Jun 23, 2014)

Take a look at Sampson boat co on YouTube. He replaced the keel timber of an old sailing yacht with a huge piece of Purple Heart. Amazing to see a timber that large ( and beautiful) being worked.


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## BroncoBrian (Jan 14, 2013)

I bought some yesterday, not quite that much ;-)


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## jmartel (Jul 6, 2012)

Dang, which warehouse was that? Edensaw?


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## WoodenDreams (Aug 23, 2018)

I used to Flatbed for 20 years. The beam marked SOLD is for that whole stack, not just the one beam. A little bit of money there on that purchase. Your normal lumber yards don't carry this size beam. There a place in Rogers,Mn, I used to hall this size beams to, and to Wheeler Lumber in Whitewood,SD used to hall in 4×12, 4×16, 6×10, 8×8, 8×10, 10×10 all 12' through 30' long. Wheeler supplied the beams for bridge construction and other specialty construction projects. Just a matter of ordering that size. "These two lumber yards did not sell to the public".


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## AlaskaGuy (Jan 29, 2012)

Lots of uses for purple heart including deck building.

http://www.woodassistant.com/wood-database/purpleheart-wood/


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## Andybb (Sep 30, 2016)

> Pulled up to the lumberyard warehouse to load a couple sheets of plywood and this was just inside the door.
> - muleskinner


Have you watched the Samson Boat Company vids on youtube? The kid is an incredibly talented boat builder and is rebuilding (basically from scratch) a hundred year old wood boat Tally Ho. He uses purple heart about the size of that huge beam to replace the keel. Biggest scarph joint I've ever seen. Probably got it from there. He got the boat in Oregon and is rebuilding it in Sequim. I keep looking for an excuse to hop on the ferry to see the boat.










*Edit…Oops Somebody already linked this.*


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## jmartel (Jul 6, 2012)

> I keep looking for an excuse to hop on the ferry to see the boat.
> 
> - Andybb


Well if you do, you can also swing through Port Townsend and go to the Wooden boat museum. If you wait until September, they have the wooden boat festival. 2018 was the first one I missed in 4 years.


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## muleskinner (Sep 24, 2011)

> Dang, which warehouse was that? Edensaw?
> 
> - jmartel


Yes, it was Edensaw. Or as my wife refers to it, "your money hole".


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## therealSteveN (Oct 29, 2016)

Did you not point at it with your mouth agape, asking where is that going?


> ?


?

Wondering why my back just started hurting? Gotta hope whoever gets it has some huge equipment to move that stuff. I've walked into Frank Miller a number of times to big piles of insanely wide, and wild woods. Usually destined for Fender or Gibson. The wildest was 28" wide x 8/4×18' long, curly white oak. Stuff was as busy as the wildest fiddleback Maple I had ever seen. Pre cell phones, and I hardly ever have a camera, Actually would like to see that pile again. It was going to Fender.


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## Terrybull (Aug 17, 2020)

I am rebuilding a 1951 Chris Craft Commander and need Purple Heart for repairs , where is the place seen in picture with all the Purple Heart stacks of wood? 
Thank you


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## Ocelot (Mar 6, 2011)

Advantage lumber carries it up through 16/4 - reasonable prices when they have their sales. One LJ built a workbench out of it because it was cheaper than maple at Advantage.

I paid about $4/bf + freight in Jan 2020 for 8/4.

On the January 2021 sale list they had 16/4 at $4.30/bf.


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