# Purpleheart and yellowheart checkerboard - best finish?



## Quoheleth (Apr 14, 2012)

I'm making a checkerboard out of purpleheart and yellowheart with straight-grained maple for the edge. I understand that if it's not finished properly, both purpleheart and yellowheart will lose their bright colors and quickly fade-- like cherry does.

An employee at the Woodcraft store where I purchsed the wood from said any good polyeurathane should do a good job of protecting it from dramatic change (there may be some darkening, but not too bad he said). He said my oil-based Zinser should be sufficient. At another woodshop, a fellow said I'm screwed unless I dye the woods with their corresponding colors first before clear-coating. At yet a third place, a fellow said I would be OK if I use a couple coats of exterior-grade poly.

This is a paying proposition, so I want to do it right. The customer wants it to be LSU colors. I know the exotic woods aren't exactly LSU purple and gold, but I thought the exotics would be cool so I invested pretty heavily in the wood. Now, I'm really, really hesitant to buy the dye. Not only would that totally eat up my margin, but I don't see myself doing anything with purple and yellow in the near future. I can digest some of the cost of exterior grade poly, as I'll have other projects in the future where that can be used.

What do y'all think?

Q


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## AandCstyle (Mar 21, 2012)

To the best of my knowledge, any oil based product will darken (yellow) the woods. Even dyes will fade with UV exposure. I would suggest using a very clear WB product with lots of UV inhibitors such as this, I am certain there are other similar products available. HTH


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## Hammerthumb (Dec 28, 2012)

I also agree on the water based finishes. I would look for a good oxigen cross linked floor finish. They usually have uv inhibitors to help prevent discoloration from having area rugs and furniture covering parts of the floor.


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## TheBoxWhisperer (Sep 24, 2012)

3rd vote on water based. I use this on purple heart and aromatic cedar to keep the color.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=63849&cat=1,190,42942


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## Quoheleth (Apr 14, 2012)

Thank you all. Perhaps the Woodcraft employee misunderstood me about it being oil based (trying to give him the benefit of the doubt). Thank you for steering me in the right direction.

The Box Whisperer - do you suggest the High Performance or Exterior?

Q


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## NiteWalker (May 7, 2011)

+1 more for waterbornes. Here's purpleheart with gloss crystalac super premium:


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## skipj (Mar 6, 2012)

Another vote for water based. The first reply by art looks good. I use target coatings products all
the time.however not the 9300. Target has the 9300 for $20.25 for 32 oz container.


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## TheBoxWhisperer (Sep 24, 2012)

I use all 3 interior types, satin more then the others. I havnt used the exterior, Im sure the quality would be excellent but I wouldnt need the benefits. My big thing is with fancy colored woods, sometimes the ambering of anything oil based takes away. In purple heart, and aromatic cedar I dont like it. The purple goes brown. Now the red in Padauk, danish oil really brings that out. Anytime Im trying a new finish or wood type, its all about samples on scraps.


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