Purpleheart

Purpleheart's general qualities are outlined below. From our headquarters in Leicestershire, we can supply high-quality cuts of purpleheart wood across the UK. For all enquiries and information, please contact our customer support team.

Durability:

Very durable. Sapwood liable to attack by powder post beetle. Extremely resistant to preservative treatment but the sapwood is permeable.

Mechanical Properties:

High strength in bending, stiffness and crushing categories and medium resistance to shock loads, with a moderate steam bending classification.

Seasoning:

Dries fairly rapidly with little degrade, but care is needed to dry out the centre of thick pieces. Air drying is slow, with some end and surface checking or case hardening. There is small movement in service.

Uses:

  • Despite its expensive price tag in comparison to other materials, the durable qualities of purpleheart wood mean it is one of the more weather-resistant timbers available and as such it has a wide range of uses
  • The wood colour is at its best when sawcut, as steaming affects the soluble phonicoin content.
  • Purpleheart flooring has grown increasingly popular, as have other home furnishings such as furniture
  • Other uses include decorative veneers for inlaying and marquetry work
  • Heavy outdoor construction work
  • Bridge building
  • Fresh water piling
  • Dock Work
  • Cladding
  • Domestic construction & Furniture
  • Gymnasium equipment
  • Shafts
  • Tool handles
  • Boat building
  • Turnery
  • Billiard tables
Get in Touch

Description

Purpleheart’s general qualities are outlined below. From our headquarters in Leicestershire, we can supply high-quality cuts of purpleheart wood across the UK. For all enquiries and information, please contact our customer support team.

  • Colour: As the name suggests, Purpleheart’s heartwood is a deep purple-violet colour when freshly cut, maturing to a dark brown. The original colour is restored when re-cut.
  • Grain: Straight grained, but often irregular, wavy, and sometimes interlocked, producing a pleasing striped figure on quartered surfaces.
  • Texture: moderate to fine.
  • Weight: Weight varies from 800-1,000 kg/m³ (50-63 lb/ft³) averaging 860 kg/m³ (54 lb/ft³).
  • Specific gravity: 86.

Additional information

Latin Name

Peltogyne pubescens

Family Name

Leguminosae

Distribution

Central America and tropical South America

Also know as

Amaranth, violetwood (USA); koroboreli, saka, sakavalli (Guyana); purperhart (Surinam); pau roxo, nazareno, morado (Venezuela); tananeo (Columbia)

Timber you may like

  • Wenge

    Wenge is a tropical hardwood, typically sourced from tropical climates such as Zaire and Cameroon Republic. The clearly defined heartwood is dark brown, with very close, fine, almost black veins. The wood is laced with closely spaced whitish bands of parenchyma, giving wenge an attractive appearance. It is fairly straight grained and has a coarse texture. With a weight of 880 kg/m³ (55 lb/ft³) and a specific gravity of 0.88, wenge is a relatively hard and heavy wood.

  • Massaranduba

    Massaranduba timber’s heartwood is light red to rose red when freshly cut, turning dark reddish brown on exposure; sapwood whitish or pale brown,distinct, but not sharply demarcated from the heart-wood. The grain is usually straight but sometimes interlocked, and the texture is fine and uniform. The timber is hard and extremely heavy.

  • Jatoba

    Jatoba timber, also known as Brazilian cherry, has heartwood that is salmon red to orange-brown, marked with dark brown and russet brown streaks. The wood has a golden lustre. The grain is commonly interlocked with a medium to coarse texture. Weight 910kg/m³ (56lb/ft³); specific gravity .91.

  • Balau

    Balau’s heartwood is yellow-brown, varying to brown and dark reddish-brown, with an interlocked grain and a moderately fine and even texture. It has a coarse texture with medium to large pores and the grain is sometimes interlocked. The weight of balau averages 930 kg/m³ (58 lb/ft³); specific gravity .93.