# No more purpleheart



## Purrmaster (Sep 1, 2012)

I am not using purpleheart again if I can avoid it. Working that stuff is like trying to work concrete. The color is nice enough but it just isn't worth the frustration. It tears out if you just look at it funny. Even my trusty Veritas jack plane couldn't plane it without tear out.

And has anyone noticed that it smells funny when you cut it? It smells like old M&Ms.


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## NiteWalker (May 7, 2011)

I have noticed the funny smell, but as for working, I haven't found it all that difficult, but I don't use hand tools on it that much either…


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

I'm assuming you mean a low angle jack? Purple heart is splintery and hard. Low angle would not be the best plane to use. Its one of those times when the "one size fits all" doesn't apply.


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

Yup its a pain in the neck to work. I use it spraingly and typically only as an accent. Sharp sharp tools are a must.


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## MR_Cole (Jun 1, 2012)

So send me the rest of your Purple Heart!! i've never used it. lol


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## lj61673 (Oct 31, 2011)

Most of the hard oily exotics are like that, yellow heart, wenge, paduak etc. pay special attention to grain direction and of course super sharp tools only!


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## Blackpearl (Jan 11, 2011)

I have never seen an M&M last long enough to get old.


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## JollyGreen67 (Nov 1, 2010)

Try turning this stuff - purple dust everywhere!


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## Danpaddles (Jan 26, 2012)

I don't think it works too bad, though the splinters are nasty. It just frustrates me to know that color won't hold. I tell people when I hand them something with purpleheart, hey look, that is going to turn brown in a year or two.


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## alexdom_89 (Feb 11, 2012)

Purple heart gets me sick so no more for me, as far as smell I had some rough sawn stuff and when I cleaned it up it smelled really sweet and gave off a unique aroma when cutting. A pleasent smell.


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## TedW (May 6, 2012)

I've never use it but hope to some day soon. Thanks for the warning, everybody.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

It can be a pain to mill,but smelling like old M&M's ???


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## smokey1945 (Feb 20, 2009)

I don't like M&M's! They are to difficult to peel.


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## DaleM (Feb 18, 2009)

I have some curly purpleheart if you would like to try working that with a handplane. I don't think I would touch it with hand tools.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

is there a different smell from old and new M&M's?


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## BrandonW (Apr 27, 2010)

Whenever I try to plane M&Ms they just gunk up the hand planes. Regarding purple heart, I only use it for accents--a little of it can go a long way.


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## Purrmaster (Sep 1, 2012)

I swear it smells like old M&Ms! As in M&Ms that have been sitting around way too long. I think it happens when a saw blade hits one of the dark streaks and heats it up.

I'd like to try bloodwood but I hear that's just as bad.

I have worked with one piece of readheart though. It seemed much softer. If I could find boards of it I might try that.


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

I said that after my last (LAST) project with padauk. Just cleaning all the greasy sanding dust off everything in the shop including me was a bear. BUT…...it sure is purdy wood.
Bill


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

I like bloodwood.
http://timetestedtools.wordpress.com/2012/10/18/just-some-new-knobs-and-totes/


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

If you don't like purpleheart, you definately want to avoid Bois de Arc, blackjack oak, Jatoba, and mesquite as they make purpleheart look easy! Figured maple doesn't like to be planed either.


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## Purrmaster (Sep 1, 2012)

Isn't mesquite hard to find in board quantities? I've been browsing The Wood Database. I haven't heard of the others, save Jatoba.

As Mr. White said above, the exotics sure are pretty. I've got a board of jarrah (just one small board) and it looks amazing. I wanted to try wenge for its color but it's awfully spendy. Plus I hear it's also very difficult to work.

That is a pretty amazing handle you made there. Impressive;


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## TCCcabinetmaker (Dec 14, 2011)

You just have to keep your blades sharp to work some woods, sometimes you may have to sharpen while in the process of working the woods. Of all the woods I've worked the worst though has to be makore, or african cherry. It's not that it's extremely dense, it's that it's got alot of silica in the wood which dulls the blades often, and if you don't keep things sharp, it tears out. That's pretty much any wood though.


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## Knothead62 (Apr 17, 2010)

We never have M & M's long enough to get old. We dispose of them in a rapid fashion.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

Bois de Arc is also called hedgeapple,hedge,horse apple, or Osage orange. Mesquite in board and slab is available through several LJ members. If you want some just post a request in the wood forum section.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Purpleheart has never been that big of a problem for me. Keep all your blades as sharp and clean as they possibly can get it it works well. I have more trouble with satine (bloodwood) than with purpleheart.

Starting saturday, purpleheart is 60% off at woodcraft - that makes is about the price of 1 common pine!


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## RibsBrisket4me (Jul 17, 2011)

Yep….splinters, splinters and more splinters….


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## Prplhrtjarhead (Aug 19, 2012)

Sorry to hear of your troubles with purple heart wood. However, reading your line, "smells like old M&Ms" made me about fall out of chair with laughter. You wouldn't have, by chance, experienced old M&Ms from some time spent in the military, would you?

Meals, Ready-To-Eat famous for their longevity on the shelf are equally famous for their 5-10 year old M&Ms. For those who don't know the difference, trust me, there is a unique smell to old M&Ms.

"Freedom has a flavor most will never taste."


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## ETwoodworks (Jan 10, 2011)

I felt the same way first time i worked with it but its not so bad once you learn its querks. I always thought it smelled like pepper.


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## 12strings (Nov 15, 2011)

I swore off purpleheart as well after making a wooden handplane out of the stuff.

However, if you have scraps let over, you could do what I did: Make shop items out of it…It is nice and heavy and makes a great mallet head. I made a purpleheart Head and put it on an oak handle. I have plans to make some purpleheart dovetail markers & 90 degree saddle squares. On all of these, tear-out is not a big issue since it's going to get beat up anyway. Just adds to the character.


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## cathyb (Jul 8, 2009)

I love purpleheart. I've used it for flared legs on nightstands, benches and tables. I also made a clothes hamper from purpleheart which is just beautiful. I am never intimidated by dense hardwoods and for me the smell makes me smile. I know that purpleheart will make my piece standout and provide the pop of color that I am looking for.
If you think purpleheart is splintery then you have never worked with wenge, which will absolutely prick your finger just by touching it. Still for all the nasty splinters, I use that wood too.


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## Tennessee (Jul 8, 2011)

I don't have any problems with purpleheart. Yes, it turns that gawd awful mottled purple/gray color when you cut it, but after a couple days, nice and purple again. As far as smell, I can't really smell it. Try marblewood…cuts like iron and smells like urine. Now there's a wood I won't use again…

Also, with purpleheart, I've built things with purpleheart that are now three years old, and still bright purple. Maybe oil finishes won't keep it, but lacquer and poly seem to work. Since it's some chemical in our atmosphere that turns it purple, (guessing carbon dioxide, since that is the gas trees live off of), if you halt the invasion, you should retain the color.


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## okwoodshop (Sep 15, 2009)

I quit buying M&Ms cause I had to throw out to many W&Ws


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