Kirk’s Purpleheart Accented End Table

This project was completed in 4 days and ended up being a lesson in “why not to settle for plywood thinking it will save you time at the jointer/planer”.

Working with purpleheart for the first time, all that I knew about it was that I had to be extra-cautious with the dust as it is a strong sensitizer. It turns out, this wood is also very dense and wears down chisels, scrapers, and planer blades almost as bad as lignum. The oil binds to router bits and saw blades and I ended up soaking the blade nightly just to deal with the buildup. It also oxidizes rapidly and develops a pasty white powder coat if left exposed for more than a minute. However, it is a beautiful wood and the grain and color that popped when I applied the first coat of finish made it all worthwhile.

In hindsight, it would have been better to have used solid maple instead of the birch ply so that it could have all been planed down together, making the surfaces more flush.