Thread: Deep Dark Purpleheart Razor

Well after seeing the Purpleheart razor that Bill Ellis did over on the Shave Den I had to try my hand at darkening the wood by lightly torching it.
The blade is a 5/8 O'Rourke & Hurley (I know who?) with some nice file work on the spine. This blade had some minor rust pits of which I removed most of them.
The scales are a lightly torched Purpleheart wood with a finish of polished CA (super glue) to add luster. The bull’s-eye collars, pins and wedge are brass. To add a contrasting and different feature I recessed a piece of Turquoise into the front scale.
The turquoise is my first attempt at recessing something into wooden scales hopefully it looks OK. I am hoping that the turquoise rising above the surface of the wood is appealing. I had doubts about that but went ahead and did it anyway.
I have made a few razors for eBay and for others and this one I did for myself.

[the chant goes up from the crowd] We want details! We want details! We want details!

How did you scorch the wood?

I have some purpleheart scales in progress, and I'm very curious...

Josh

Hi Josh,
Actually I used a mini torch and lightly scorched the wood. As you do this you can see the wood turning a very dark brown to a light black. You need to keep the flame moving across the wood as you do this otherwise you may catch the wood on fire, especially the edges since they are so thin. You then sand off the dark brown or light black and then you can see that the wood did turn a very dark purple. I understand that Purpleheart is heat sensitive and will change color as you will see.
It makes a really nice dark purple color.

If you want to see some real nice Purpleheart scales done by Bill Ellis check out this site:
http://www.theshaveden.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1698

Have fun...................

Very Nice Bill !!!!!

Lynn

The turquoise is a very nice touch indeed.

X

Awesome inlay. The scales have a great finish also.