: I really like the purpleheart too!. I have a little of it & was teempted
: to use it as access strips, but I had heard that you can have trouble
: getting epoxy to work OK on it. Also, was it hard to sand/fair the boat
: when working with soft & hard wood beong adjacent to each other!
: Definetly look great!

I really like the looks of the purpleheart but it is a BEAR to work. It is hard, heavy, and a little on the brittle side. Does not like to bend and you can forget about using staples. I learned early not to use a plane on this wood. Even with a sharp blade, it tends to tear. I did all fairing with a belt sander and fairing boards. Using the belt sander also made the transition from soft to hardwood easier to control.

I didn't have any problems with epoxy on the purpleheart. I used the saturation coat method of applying the epoxy and fiberglass. The purpleheart soaked up the saturation coat quite well.

There is a shop here in Houston call Hardwood Lumber Co that has every kind of wood you can imagine. This is where I got my cedar, redwood, and purpleheart. Also picked up some cocobola for another project I'm working on - beautiful wood! (Talk about a difficult wood to work with!)