: I'm currently building a Guillemot 17, and I'm almost finished stripping the
: hull and will soon begin work on the deck. I was looking for a
: "feature" wood to use in the double curve section of my deck
: pattern, when I saw a beautiful wood called "Purpleheart" at my
: local lumberyard. This stuff looks FANTASTIC. I was so excited to find
: such a unique wood, that I bought it and drove home before I realized that
: this stuff is harder than any wood I have ever seen! Now I'm wondering how
: I'm going to get it to bend, even with very small strips. The curves of
: the pattern aren't extremely tight, but I'd rather not break half the wood
: trying to learn the correct way to do this. Are there any tricks to
: bending wood this hard? Has anybody else used purpleheart successfully?

: Thanks, Todd

I used purple heart in the coaming on my newly finished yak. Both of the vertical part of the striped coaming as well as the laminated lip. Purple heart definitely is a bitch to work dry. It is tough to plane and sand. but besides that it is a fantastic looking wood. i think that it is fairly waterproof also with no treatment from all its natural oils. i would epoxy and varnish it though. seemed to take epoxy and glass and varnish with no problems.

anyways, I was able to bend maybe 2 inch radius curves over 90 degrees if I steamed the wood. more gentle curves like long swooping ones over the full length of a kayak may work okay without steam and heat-. I would make the purple heart strips something like 1/4 the width of the normal strips you are using to get them to bend. getting the bend and twist may be tough so try and use them in flat areas - like cockpit recess, coaming, maybe front and rear deck areas. using them in the hull where the deck swoops up may be a PITA.

good luck and post pictures. I should be posting some pretty soon. the purpleheart will look dull after you cut/sand it.

wipe it with water to see its real color. very pretty.

good luck, Pete czerpak albany, NY