Purpleheart, Purple Without Paint

Purpleheart is, as its name suggests, wood that is purple inside. People seeing a board for the first time usually ask whether it has been painted. That is because an even reddish purple covers the surface, even though it has only been planed. The name is used for trees in the genus Peltogyne, which grow in Central and South America. Relatively hard and heavy, purpleheart is widely used for furniture accents, inlay, and turned wooden objects.

Purple Across the Broad Face

Lay a board roughly 900 mm long and more than 400 mm wide flat on the floor, and purple covers the entire face. The color is not uniformly even, as though it had been painted in a single shade. Dark and light bands alternate along the grain, while reddish tones and purple come forward in turn depending on the angle of the light.

The Bright Band Along the Edge

The purple is the color of the wood’s interior—in other words, the heartwood. The sapwood near the bark is a light beige, so a board sawn with the edge intact has a bright band beside the purple face. The boundary between the two colors is not straight as if drawn with a ruler; it curves with the way the tree grew. You can cut away this band and use only the purple, or leave it intact as an accent on a tabletop or shelf.

Color That Changes With Air and Light

Purpleheart’s color is not fixed. A freshly sawn surface is close to a dull brown, then deepens to purple when exposed to air; after prolonged exposure to sunlight, it darkens back toward brown. This is why boards kept in the same wood library can appear different depending on the condition of their surfaces. On some boards, one face may have faded to grayish brown, making the purple almost impossible to see, while another face reveals purplish brown.

The Grain Appears When Cut Small

Broad boards mainly show straight stripes, but when cut into small pieces, such as 28 mm square stock, each face reveals a different pattern. Some faces have straight-running grain, while others show growth rings curving around in circles. Stock of this size is well suited to turning into pens or handles. Because purple wood is uncommon, joining it with another species creates clear color contrast in cutting boards and small objects.

Each piece of purpleheart differs in the intensity of its purple and the width of its sapwood. When choosing a piece, it is helpful to consider the color of the broad face together with the edge band, and to decide in advance whether to keep the band or cut it away according to how the wood will be used.

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