carving purple heart

[firewalker]

Have any of you ever carved purple heart. I've heard it is highly toxic and very hard to carve with hand tools.

[Bandaid]

Re: carving purple heart

Hi firewalker...I made a couple of game boards out of purple heart. Didn't try carving it but it was one of the hardest woods I've ever worked with. I understand at one time it was used for ship masts so that gives you some idea of its strength.
I don't have a reference but maybe some of the other members could suggest a site to check the level of toxicity. I made sure to take the usual precautions to avoid breathing the dust, e.g. face mask.

[plain_ol_ed]

Re: carving purple heart

I'm right there with Bandaid - have made a couple projects out of it but never carved it. Was thinking about it until after the first project was done. Hard stuff, right up there with osage orange, maybe harder.