: anyone work with purplehart? caught my eye at the lumber yard wanted to use
: it as accent.

Yes, I like to work with it a lot. On my canoe I used it for the outer stems. It is such a hard dense wood, it is great for any high wear areas. I also laminated a 0.200" thick strip of it along the outside of the gunnels. I also use it to bend and wrap around paddle edges.

Although it works quite well with saws and sanders, it doesn't lend itself to planing. I can never seem to get a very smooth surface running it through the thickness planer, even with new blades. I prefer to rip my boards to size, as this gives a better finish. The planer tends to pick up splinters, no matter which direction I feed it.

I hope you include some in your work, it truly is a beautiful wood,

Simon