I am just in the very beginning stages of my first strip kayak--a guillemot that I have been lofting from Nick's excellent book. This bulletin board is great--if I can just remember all the good advice when I need it!

I am fortunate to live in northern BC where I can get nice clear western red cedar in long pieces. I can also get some yellow cedar, which I would also like to use (the red I found is very uniform in colour).

I would like to do some "pinstriping" in a dark colour and the wood that I am considering is purpleheart. Does anyone have any experience with this? Will it epoxy well? (I understand it scorns regular "white glue" and must be expoxied to the other strips). Will it bend readily or require steam?

If this is not a good choice for feature, is somethings else? (I actually have some old mahogany shelves that are about to be sacrificed for the cockpit surround).

Thanks