[jimmontg]

I ordered a 1/4 x3" piece of the wood. I thought it was rosewood as it wasn't purple AT all. Told to go put it in the sun or heat and it did turn purple. Here's the catch after a while it gets darker and become purplish brown. Still looks good. BTW you do not need to seal it just use some nice wax after you buff it and it will look fine. If after a day or two in the sun it doesn't turn purple, then it is a type of rosewood it looks to me to be Honduran Rosewood. Is it heavy and very hard? Then it isn't walnut or maple. You probably have some fresh cut purple heart, that is what it looks like. Take a small piece and put in oven at lowest temp for about half an hour and see. Don't put the whole slab in there as they will warp! Over the space of a week a piece I had went from rosewood to purple heart without the sun. The white part is the living layer near the bark so don't use that as it may not change.

I use gunstock wax with beeswax, carnauba wax and silicone in a solvent suspension. Rub on lightly, let dry, about 5 minutes, and using a soft cloth rub off. Wax seems to slow down color change, seems too. I mostly use exotic woods for my handles and some of them have some weird properties like red Padauk NEEDS screws, glue doesn't stick to it very well. Well epoxy doesn't, maybe the cyanoacrylates super glues do. CA for short. Yes for all the rosewood family woods like purple heart or cocobolo a wipe down with thinner is needed, but the oil still seeps out, you need loveless or corby's. I know where you can get loveless 1/8" if you like small pins, 3/16 too.