Anyone Turn Palm?

[Richard Madison]

Not black palm, just plain ole, U.S.-grown palm tree? I have access to a recently cut palm tree, maybe 15"-16" dia. at the base, and plan to get a piece just to try. But is it worth gathering up a bunch of it, or will the first piece make me say "Never again"? Any tips on drying the stuff, like maybe blow the water out with compressed air? There is also a big pine tree in the pile, so may get one or two pieces of that one. Any info would be much appreciated.

[Matt Meiser]

Seems like once you got through the outer plastic it would kind of crumble.

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/03/21/palmtreo_narrowweb__300x442,0.jpg

Oh wait... :D

[curtis rosche]

i have a book of different turners and one of them turns palm. from what i read it turns quickly and sands quickly, but it is hard to get a surface that isnt fuzzy. so what the turner did was wire brush it to create a design, then used a torch to singe the fuzz off. kinda like burning the hair off your arm.

[Mark Hix]

No but I had mine read once:D.

My one attempt was on a pen blank. It was a disaster from the start but I saw an outstanding segmented vase at an art show last year that was all black palm. It was awesome. I don't remember the turner's name and he was busy making a sale so I did not talk to him.

[Stephen Saar]

My family owns a bunch of property in Central FL that we use for tree harvesting. There is a bunch of Palm down there so me and my father went and chopped one down to see how it would do with turning, but we ended up not trying to use it all because it is extremely fibrous. It looked like it would be basically impossible to turn, or work with. I didn't actually turn any pieces so I don't know for certain how it really is, but it looked like it would be incredibly difficult. If you do end up turning it I would love to hear your experiences. If there is a way to turn it, I would have access to huge numbers of these trees to work with. Although being in Atlanta, it makes it hard to get the lumber back and forth easily.

-Stephen

[ROY DICK]

Seems like once you got through the outer plastic it would kind of crumble.

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/03/21/palmtreo_narrowweb__300x442,0.jpg

Oh wait... :D
Good one.

Roy

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Richard, you could fill it with water and freeze it, turns fine that way apparently, just a little wet and cool :eek: :D.
The regular way I'm told is like trying to turn bundles of straw ;-))

[Wayne Sparkman]

What about PEG? Would that work in a way similar to frozen water?

[Dan Forman]

Get a few barrels of long acting epoxy and dump them on the ground surrounding the tree, resin on one side, and hardener on the other. It will seep into the ground, the palm tree will suck it up, it will mix inside the tree and cure. Should turn just fine after that. :D

Dan

[Joseph M Lary]

It turns just fine , I have used it and my brother-in-law in florida has turner several hollow forms they are not that hard to work with , you might want to ware gloves when putting in th lathe to start. I got some pics of one he had on display in St Paul @ the AAW Gallery. Its not wood so it takes some getting use to. If you go to the AAW web site , go down to the 2009 symposium wrap up , the picture is EOG Auction preview gallery . he donated it to the AAW to sell.

[Joseph M Lary]

Got it to up load .

[Chris Haas]

never done it myself, but a guy at my club make a hf about 2 feet tall by 1ft wide that came out awesome.

remember hearing him say something about how before the tree is cut down, you have to drill a hole in the bottom and poke it with a screwdriver, something about moisture content to tell you if its turnable. apparently there is a whole process to harvest a palm for turning, his results were remarkable though, good luck

[Richard Madison]

Thanks everyone who replied. Looks like that plastic one would be difficult to mount on the lathe.

Leo, would be difficult to keep it frozen around here (Texas), but in theory at least that should work.

Thanks for the picture Joseph. That's very encouraging. I get the feeling that the drying technique is crucial to success, and maybe best to dry first and then turn.

Thanks for the PM C.W. I have saved it.

This might be fun.

[Joseph M Lary]

Keep a eye on it as it drys my brother in law has problem with mold it will get black spots on it , he sprays it with bleach .good luck, I think it is some neat stuff to turn. wish it was more avilable to me, I guess Ill have to have him put some in the box,no our next wood swap.:)

[Wes Henson]

I think you may want to look at using it ina spindle type orientation. I tried a piece of tropical wood once that would fit into the "bundle of straws" category. Face work didn't go so well. But spindle work went well.

[Richard Madison]

Thanks Joseph. Will try to expel excess water with compressed air. Should work a treat (as they say in Oz). Forgot to ask how you mount it. Glue to waste block? Both ends to start?

Wes, Definitely intend to (try to) turn endgrain. Am afraid cross grain would be a mess.

[alex carey]

DANG, I was under the impression palm had no turning potential, we just had a big one cut down. Wish I'd kept some.

[Chris Stolicky]

I haven't tried any of the type of palm that grows in the US, but I wonder if it would be worth the hassle of trying to stabilize it, or soak it with a boat load of CA.

It would definitely be an expensive and tedious process depending on the size, but it might mitigate the fibers tearing on you.

just a though...

[Richard Madison]

Think I'll just try to dry and turn a piece first and see how it goes. Often fun to try something new and different. Would certainly welcome any additional help from anyone with first hand experience. Maybe in a month or three will have something to show (or not).

[Belton Garvin]

Someone at our club turned a piece earlier this year...turned out beautiful. She turned it wet and described it as "turning a head of lettuce". Guess that makes it pretty soft! I would love to get a chance to turn some in the future.

[Ken Glass]

Richard,
I have made a few Black Palm Wine Stoppers. They sold very well and seem to be very popular and are striking in appearance. They are, however, quite brittle when turning.
I would complete 2 out of 3 with one cracking or chipping to bad to finish. The yellow palm I have is a little less brittle, but still somewhat of a challenge even when making a stopper. That is my only dealings with Palm.

[Richard Madison]

Ken,
Think I saw one of your black palm stoppers and it was seriously beautiful. I should be so fortunate.
Belton,
Have always hated turning letuce. Got four pieces of the palm this morning and could barely get the biggest one in the truck. We're not into lifting stuff these days. Must be totally saturated. Plan to set it on some stickers, grain vertical, and hope it will "drain". But that will have to wait until tomorrow when my back has recovered a bit.

Thanks again y'all.