Thread: Any suggestions ????????

Hi smiife,
That is a good question. I think I would cut a piece off, big enough to do a Bowl, & turn the other piece upside down, & place up against a Northeast Wall, & let the water? run out.
I can't see any Pith, Yes I said Pith? so it could be OK to Turn.

hi issatree,
yeah no pith,just very fibrous,i am not sure it won't just
fall apart when the ''bark'' comes off,so i thought i
would ask the experts.
cheers smiife

how on earth did

1. you fit it in your car?
2. Carry the thing?

hi arry,
i told you i am a woodaholic
1..i drive a courier van around all day ,so plenty of room most days
always room for more timber
2..it was only 830mmx200mm so i put on my shoulder
cheers smiife

Hey just thinking
here's a idear Just might work if you try hard

Turn it!!!

"what do you do with it?" Watch it dry and become an unturnable lump!

The trunk looks suspiciously like an alexander or bangalow palm, they don't have the same characteristics & properties like black / red / coconut / Fiji fan palms etc used for timber. Some turners have turned royal palms & I have experimented with some palms in Nth QLD. Unfortunately some show promise and have similar features to black palms but do not have the same strength or durability in the filler and break down rather quickly. The other issue is some palms that do have value as timber don't show those same properties when grown in a domestic situation as their relatively high growth rates degrade the timber.

I managed to get an egg turned from a similar lump but what was left has gone black with mould and will be going to the green waste next trip!

I've got some that I managed to dry out and not get attacked by the dreaded mould. Looks fairly featureless and very fidrous I suspect I wll be dumping it.

thanks guys,
so i guess i should have left it where it was
maybe it will fit in the green bin or i could send it to
nz carver, freight on.... he had a good idea
only joking .. thanks again guys always a mile of infomation
on the forum
cheers smiife

I have turned a couple of palms and was quite happy with what I produced. Best results with palms that are relatively solid right across the diameter, most likely the very bottom of the tree. I found that the bottom meter or so of Bangalow Palms were the best, and I found a couple of Cocos Palms that were OK too.

I turned a couple of Bangalow bowls end grain; using wood hardener to firm up the softer centre section, and I made a couple of flatter Cocos Palm bowls/platters where the outer section was solid but the pith was too spongy.

Photo below of the Bangalow bowls. The browner Bangalow bowl was relatively aged/dry when turned, the bowl in the foreground was turned wet, dried and re-turned which may account for the colour difference.

Jeff<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

I saw a mushroom made of palm in my favorite hardware store the other day. It was gorgeous!

As for mold. Cut to size and dip in straight vinegar or 10 - 20 % household bleach and water for about 10 minutes and let dry.

hi guys,
today i was just about to throw the log in the green bin,
and then i saw ogato's photo;s of a nice couple of bowls
and decided to give it a go ,and thanks paul for your advice too!
it is always good to try something differant and take on a challenge
so thanks again guys
cheers smiife

As for mould, boarax is ya friend, hot water and as much as will disolve then drown all open faces as soon as possible, it will keep the insects at bay too.

As for the palm...yep as some have said, most of them are pretty useless unprocessed, but they are very good candidates for stabilisation.

Once dry they tend to be soft and spongy, so they soak up resin pretty well.

cheers

Hi Smiife
I use the Tony Greig cricket pitch test to guage whether or not palms are solid enough to use. Try poking your car key in the end of the log - if there's reasonable resistance, it may be OK, but if it goes in easily the log will almost invariably be too soft and fibrous to mount on the lathe.
A couple of pics of a bit of Alexander palm picked up recently. One is the base of the trunk - can get the key in but with a bit of effort; the other end of the piece of trunk, about 1meter up, it's much softer - the key goes in easily all the way. This end would not be usable.
For the bowls in the earlier posting, I mounted using a tenon about 2.5cm.
Best of luck with the project, get back in touch if you need.
Jeff