Thread: Purple heart and huon pine box

Very nicely done indeed !

Do any finishes maintain the purple colour, or does it always fade back to brown on exposure to UV? Never tried purpleheart, but might have to pick some up next time I'm at Trend Timbers.

Cheers

My limited experience with Purple Heart is that when sanded it goes brown / grey, and exposure to UV restores the purple colour. That box was sitting on an outdoor patio table for a few weeks, not in direct sunlight, to get it to darken as much as possible before adding the oil finish.

Be interesting to see how the colour goes over time

Information from The Wood Database website says:

Color/Appearance: When freshly cut the heartwood of Purpleheart is a dull grayish/purplish brown. Upon exposure the wood becomes a deeper eggplant purple. With further age and exposure to UV light, the wood becomes a dark brown with a hint of purple. This color-shift can be slowed and minimized by using a UV inhibiting finish on the wood. For more information, see the article Preventing Color Changes in Exotic Woods.

Excellent work there. Beautiful workmanship.

How did you clean up the bandsaw marks? I read about somebody using their jointer to do this. I have never considered it, but it should work in theory.

cheers,

ajw

How did you clean up the bandsaw marks?

Three sheets of 240 grit sandpaper spray glued to a sheet of glass, side by side, then lots of figure eight rubbing of the lid and the box cut surfaces. Took a while, neck and arms really aching towards the end. Surprisingly, I only lost 2mm in the whole cut.

Have some 1m long x 600 wide continuous sandpaper on order from The SandPaper Man, one of this Forum's sponsors. That will make it a lot easier, in one long piece on the glass 300 x 800. The box tends to tear into the joins of the adjacent sheets on the glass, even though they have been tamped down flat with a veneer roller

Hi Dengue, Nice work. I clean up the saw cuts from seperating the lid, by running it through the drum sander then, like you, sand the remaining marks out on a sandpaper board. I get a length of floor sanding paper and glue it to a sheet of 19mm ply, about 300 x 400mm, with aquadhere. I think it is a bit safer than glass. I find the drum sander gets the joint close, but not close enough. Still takes time to get a good job.

Jim

Very nice, Dengue. I like the pattern on the lids, and the trays are pretty detailed too.
Have you tried separating the lid cutting part way through with the table saw?

Thanks for the nice comment Alex.

Have you tried separating the lid cutting part way through with the table saw?

Made a display box for my youngest son's Pokemon badges today, will install some keys tomorrow, and next day try the tablesaw to separate the lid. Will do two full cuts through opposite sides, and leave 1mm on the other two sides to be removed by a dovetail saw and block plane. Fingers crossed!

I clean up the saw cuts from separating the lid, by running it through the drum sander

Thanks for the suggestion, powderpost, much appreciated. I thought of that but didn't want to stress the floating lid with the thin lips after the rebate is cut on the sides. Could certainly do it for the box side surface, would save a lot of effort, and keep the plane of the join level with the base.

I have recently ground a box and lid, put them each on a granite plate and found no wobble, but put them together prior to fitting the hinges and found the two planes are not coplanar - there is a gap on one side of the box/lid join

Dengue, before I use the sanding board, I will run a pencil line aound the edge to be sanded. That shoows me where it is not being sanded flat on the board. Drum sanders are not infallable, in spite of what the manufacturers say.


Jim

Nice job on the box! . . . although I'm not too keen on the red felt - but the customer is always right eh!

Originally Posted by Dengue

Three sheets of 240 grit sandpaper spray glued to a sheet of glass, side by side, then lots of figure eight rubbing of the lid and the box cut surfaces. Took a while, neck and arms really aching towards the end. Surprisingly, I only lost 2mm in the whole cut.

Have some 1m long x 600 wide continuous sandpaper on order from The SandPaper Man, one of this Forum's sponsors. That will make it a lot easier, in one long piece on the glass 300 x 800. The box tends to tear into the joins of the adjacent sheets on the glass, even though they have been tamped down flat with a veneer roller

I just split a batch of 4 document boxes on the bandsaw last night for the first time and was pleasantly surprised with the results. Had assumed I was going to get some deep wobble marks from the brand new carbide-tip blade so I allowed 3mm extra between my keys to separate the lid, but even after removing the deepest cut marks, I had still only wasted 2mm - so now my key spacings don't balance . I used a sheet of the same paper you ordered but glued it to some melamine-chipboard instead which is as flat and stiff as you're ever going to need it. After sanding on the board, all four box lids sit perfectly flat on the bases - very happy with the result
I also used the sanding block to flatten the keys off after removing the bulk on the disc-sander - best result I've had on those suckers yet!
Making that block was one of the easiest but handiest things I've made for the shed - get's used a lot!
Only glitch I've had is the little hump near the middle that developed after a while - I suspect it is from the glue (contact spray) causing the backing to expand but after using it so much on these 4 boxes it has almost disappeared. Mulling over some ideas to just clamp the ends under tension for the next version

I'm not too keen on the red felt

I thought much the same, TTIT, but I think the red and the purple go well together after seeing them in this box.

The Catholic Church got it right with their bishop and cardinal colours

Originally Posted by Dengue

................ Had to be felt, by demand, not pigskin, as no animals were to be hurt in the making of this box. Bloody kids!

So you've never told the kid what they make felt from then?!?!?!

Then there was the girl who worked in the hat factory, about whom I'll say no more, in case Big Shed raps my knuckles.

One happy daughter and well worth waiting for. Beautiful contrast of the timbers...what a lovely box.