Purple Heart & Japanese Oak

[Hallelujahal]

Have just ordered some planks of Purple Heart and Japanese oak for a chess set project I’m working on for no.1 son.
Taking a chance with the woods as I’ve never worked them before, and am interested in your thoughts on the workability of them?
Regards
Al

 

[Adam W.]

Mind the splinters on purple heart.

 

[MARK.B.]

Turns nice but prone to checking,changes colour over time as the purple fades, and as Adam say's them splinters are nasty

 

[Hallelujahal]

Thanks for the heads up I had no idea about the splintering

 

[MARK.B.]

Yep one of those little pippers left overnight and your whole hand drops off seriously though they can go septic very quickly as some other woods. Using a bit of Wenge at the moment and the splinters of that are the tiny ones have to be dug out which is almost as painful as when it went in, my eyesight is not the best and my wife takes great delight in using the largest needle in the pack

 

[johnnyb]

Japanese oak is interesting. I'm guessing it's a quercus sub species. I think I had some off an old chest of drawers because an old chap said that's japanese oak ! I made a wooden padlock with it( and a memorial cross)

 

[Daniel2]

Is Japanese Oak quite different to European Oak, then ?

 

[Hallelujahal]

Similar but has a different growth pattern which gives it different features.
https://www.wood-database.com/japanese-oak/

 

[Shankat]

Have just ordered some planks of Purple Heart and Japanese oak for a chess set project I’m working on for no.1 son.
Taking a chance with the woods as I’ve never worked them before, and am interested in your thoughts on the workability of them?
Regards
Al

Hi Hallalujahal
sounds like a fun project . Do you mind me asking where you ordered the planks of Purple Heart from? I’m looking for something similar , many thanks

 

[johnnyb]

I found it was quartersawn and had a very consistent and light medullary Ray pattern. also it was very straight grained. that first pic was poor tbh( picked from a thumbnail)

 

[Hallelujahal]

Hi Hallalujahal
sounds like a fun project . Do you mind me asking where you ordered the planks of Purple Heart from? I’m looking for something similar , many thanks

https://www.exotichardwoods.co.uk/Taking a chance as I’ve never used them before. And not cheap… but what is these days?Al

 

[akirk]

https://www.exotichardwoods.co.uk/Taking a chance as I’ve never used them before. And not cheap… but what is these days?Al

I haven't used them - but know of them - my BIL supplies them with timber...

 

[Torx]

Mind the splinters on purple heart.

could be wrong but I think purpleheart is ok - it’s greenheart you want to look out for

 

[thetyreman]

I didn't realise purple heart splinters were that bad, you certainly need sharp tools to work with it, but I like purpleheart.

 

[Shankat]

https://www.exotichardwoods.co.uk/Taking a chance as I’ve never used them before. And not cheap… but what is these days?Al

Many thanks

 

[Linus]

Another source of purpleheart planks is here:
https://www.woodwiseuk.co.uk/product-category/lumber/purpleheart-lumber/purpleheart-2-lumber/

 

[scooby]

A lot of the Purple Heart I've used in the past had a lot of interlocking grain, which made planing a right faff. As mentioned, it does go brown pretty quickly especially if its exposed to a lot of sunlight.

I've got a small board with various offcuts glued to it..a sort of sample board. Its been in a cupboard for a few years and the Purple Heart is still purple.

 

[recipio]

I think its a bit like Padauk - it fades to a muddy brown after a year or so. It would be interesting to experiment with staining before making the piece.

 

[pgrbff]

Japanese oak is softer than european. Kanna bodies, Japanese planes, are made of it and I have a few. Its called shirakashi or kashi and I think std japanese saws which are suitable only for softwoods will cut it. If you want a Japanese saw to cut western hardwoods they are completely different.

 

[Nigel Taylor]

it goes lovely with pewter - it sets off and enhances the colour of the purple heart