Sabal Palm Bowl

[BILL DONAHUE]

This is a sabal palm bowl, 9 1/2" in diameter that was done as a study for a hollowed form I intend to start soon. Had attended a demo at the AAW Symposium in Tampa give by John Mascoll and was very impressed by his turnings. Palm is not the easiest stuff to work with. The piece I have is very wet and the high silica content causes tools to require sharpening about every ten minutes. I usually do hollowed forms, have been doing them for six years and was surprised to realize that this is only my 12th bowl.

[Raymond Fries]

Beautiful grain and a wonderful bowl. Enjoy it.

Take Care and Enjoy Life...

[Brian Libby]

Very unique grain and nice shape-I like it!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Wow - you done good! I've never turned Palm but know several who have and they said it was like turning a bunch of very sharp straws. I don't see any tear-out, the form is pleasing and the wood has a unique look to it. You should be very happy with this - I know I would be!

Looking forward to seeing the hollow form!

[Bill Hensley]

That is a very fine looking bowl. The shape and finish are spot on.

[Russell Eaton]

Looks good Bill. That bowl has some crazy grain.

[Scott Hackler]

Very nice bowl Bill. I turned a piece of black palm once and although the finished product was nice, I will NOT be buying any more for a while!!!! Boy that stuff it tough to turn.

[robert baccus]

Very nice bowl Bill. There are hundreds of species of palm out there and only a few will survive turning. You done good. I turned a 12" tall hollow form and had to epoxy soak it from the inside and outside. It was big and dried 25 years when I bought it. Black palm was black 25 years ago but the low grade stuff I see now is much softer and more brown than black.

[BILL DONAHUE]

BTW - forgot to mention that a friend who tried to turn a piece from the same tree had problems that I didn't and I suspect the difference may be due to the fact that I soaked mine (after rough turning it) for 48 hrs. in a detergent solution. I had done that in the past on Norfolk Island pine with success. Not having a control I can't say for sure that soaking it was the reason for the difference.

[robert baccus]

Good idea Bill. Wetting seems to help on tearing wood. If you get a chance try some thinned down lacquer or epoxy soaks.

[Lee Koepke]

I'd like to try that one time. The results you got were amazing. I still have some contacts in florida, maybe I can manage them to sneak me a piece or two next time I visit.