Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Purpleheart Handles

 Today, I made two new handles.  I used a blank of Purpleheart for each of these.  These blanks of purplehart have much more of a brownish tint, however in some light, you can definitely see the purple tinge.  I was able to get the drill press working for drilling out the holes for the tang.  This should make the process that much better.
This handle is for Brendan Firebow's Popinjay rapier.   It replaced a round  handle that originally came with the blade.  


This is my 30" Darkwood rapier.  As detailed in an earlier post, I swapped out the original handle on this to my 38" Darkwood clam shell.

These handles just have a finish of Tung Oil on them.  They really look great.  I feel productive.
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1 comment:

  1. UnknownAugust 29, 2012 at 5:06 PM

    Purple heart will be brownish till it oxidizes... It might oxidize through the tung oil, but you might have to strip it off and let the wood sit a bit. once it turns purple though, you might want to shellac it, not just to protect the color, but because the wood is carcinogenic, and splinters from the stuff don't like to ever go away(till you lance the skin and pull them out) if someone takes care of the wood, you don't need to worry about it, but if they don't. more of an issue.

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