Is palm worth turning?

[Ben Rafael]

I'll have access to a pretty good sized palm tree that is going to be cut down.
Is it worth my time to get it?

[Lee DeRaud]

I see "red palm" and "black palm" turning blanks at the stores and in the catalogs all the time, but I have no idea how they were treated/dried/whatever or what kind of palm they came from. Turning it is an...interesting experience, but I'm not sure it's something I want to make a habit of. Probably be ok for pens and small stuff like that if you use thick CA or some kind of resin to fill the pores.

[Mark Rios]

Man you turners are something else. Wouldn't it hurt less to turn some wood instead of turning your palm?

[Jim King]

Turning palm can be a little painful if you are not protected. A lot of spines can come off a rough log. The palms here grow with a styrofoam center as shown in the photo and the outside is the hard part just the opposite of regular woods. We have glued up 1 and 2 inch kiln dried boards into 12 inch square peices 4 inches thick and they do make beautiful bowls or whatever. Here are a couple of photos , the bowl shown is a bit ugly but you can at least see it can be done.. The bowl and the log slice are typical sizes about 14 to 16 inches in dia.

[Ben Rafael]

Interesting, I'll give it a shot.
Can't be any more painful than being married.

[Ed Davidson]

Palm can be pretty punky and dusty...no long curls off the gouge with this wood. I like it for making small things like bottle stoppers.

[Lee DeRaud]

Can't be any more painful than being married.Marraige and divorce are like when my back is giving me trouble:
neither sitting nor standing are too bad, but getting from one to the other really hurts.:eek:

[Raymond Overman]

As I have said before, turning black palm is like turning balsa wood with cocobolo nails driven in it. It's truly the most hateful thing I've ever turned unless you stabalize it first.

However it turns out with a really interesting pattern.

[Jim King]

We just happened to be makeing a work bench out of black palm today and here is the photo of it in process of assembly. The legs are red palm.

[Ben Rafael]

Raymond,
How would you stabilize it?

[Raymond Overman]

Lots of thin CA.

[Jim King]

I dont want to sound out of line but if you buy mature palm and dry it if it is not already dried there would be no reason to stabilize it. Easy to turn and sand but can be painful on the rough or interior edges.. Just ask who you are buying it from if it is soft interior wood or KD surface wood. If they kow I would think they would tell you the truth if they are reputable dealers and there are many.. The biggest problem is that there are so many new quick buck artists selling woods such as Purple Heart wood from Africa (they dont even know where it comes from) and others that it is not a sure market out there. I have seen my own woods that have our serial numbers on them on ebay sold as totally different woods by resellers.

[Raymond Overman]

Not out of line at all Jim. My experience is limited to a small amount of black palm that I purchased through a dealer at a small symposium. I'm sure that your experience outweighs mine. From my experience though, I probably would pass it by if I could spend my money on something else.

[Jim King]

Raymond:

It is definitley not one of those warm and cudley woods.

[Ben Rafael]

It's a palm tree at a neighbor's place. I can have as much as I want once it's down.

[Mark Rios]

Please excuse me but I just have to chime in here.

Jim King.....I haven't seen one piece of yours that you've posted here or on your website that isn't absolutely amazing/beautiful/strikingly different or all three. The variety of wood that you have to work with and the talent that you folks have in knowing how to bring out the best in each wood is truly, to me anyway, astounding.

Your bench is even wonderful. If the top was planed flat and had a little finish on it I bet it would sell for a ton of money here.

Do you folks down there in South America have special, secret tribes of magic woodworkers that are the keepers of all the cultural secrets of your country or something?:D :D

Sorry to all about the gushing but as a non-turner that stuff is amazing.

[Ken Salisbury]

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"Your Friendly Moderator"

[Mike Ramsey]

I just turned some local Palm this past weekend, I have been letting
it dry for about 7 months. I turned some of it wet but it didn't do
well.....it also tends to grow mold like crazy when it's wet. My
feelings about turning Palm is probably like chucking up a really
dry bale of Hay.....It doesn't seem to take very fine detailing either..
But if you are successful a large bowl or vase will be light as a feather.
I will be donating the rest of my stock to some lucky member
of my turning club this weekend...lifes to short to mess with it!