Black Palm

**double.d** · 6th May 2023, 08:22 AM

An Indian timber I was once shown by a knife maker and it was a choice for the handle on the knife he was making me, I opted for another but thought it very unusual and a timber i would like to try in the future.
Well the future happened and i came across a local importer and bought some and was soon to learn it is far from ideal for making boxes as it it very hard, dense and shatters when machined. The splinters are deadly fine and sharp, you do not dare rub your fingers on faces or edges. After trial and error i realised that rebating must be done in the same direction as the rotating bit otherwise shattering occurs. The stock for this box started at 110mm high and finished at 90mm high due to continuous trimming after chipping out.
But i persisted as it is such a beautiful timber with true white bait feature. After finishing this box i said no more, but it sold within minutes of posting and as i had a piece of book matched lid i decided to make another which was a worse experience than the first with a carbide tipped band saw blade, circular saw blade and plane blade dulled with the experience.

So be warned, this timber must be stabilised before use and in my opinion only good for knife scales and pens. I have not used stabilised timber for box making so am not sure of the pitfalls.

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**double.d** · 6th May 2023, 08:23 AM

I don't know why this is the only site i use which does not orientate photos correctly

**mature one** · 6th May 2023, 08:46 AM

When PMG camping in the days gone by made surf rods of this same timber makes good bows as well, nice job of the boxes.

**Mobyturns** · 6th May 2023, 09:25 AM

Having turned and machined a few palm (monocot) species, both stabilized and non-stabilized I can appreciate the effort and skill that has gone into producing this high quality and very beautiful box. Also, quite understandable how it sold so quickly, given so few wood workers would attempt to use palm for fine joinery.

Stabilized palm is better to work with but not significantly better imho. It does reduce the tendency to chip out the fibrous long strands, whilst working it and in use. It produces a lot of very fine irritating dust when machined. Is it 'safer' to machine as stabilized or non-stabilized? Who knows, not worth the risk, so use good PPE and DE/DC equipment if you choose to use 'palm wood.'

Many palms do produce some useable 'wood' - not much volume wise from a palm trunk though. Due to the high silica content, and in some species highly irritating calcium oxalate (Oxalic acid) crystals, it must be used with some caution. The silica and oxalates are present in the parenchymatous tissues (the matrix or off-white tissues surrounding the black straw like strands) so are present in the dust produced.

Interestingly QLD DAF have done extensive research in producing rotary coco-veneer (Note not the CoCo - Constant Colour veneer product). I've not seen any offered for sale commercially, though there has been a pilot research project in Fiji.

**Treecycle** · 6th May 2023, 10:31 AM

Top effort, it looks great.

**double.d** · 6th May 2023, 12:43 PM

Originally Posted by mature one

When PMG camping in the days gone by made surf rods of this same timber makes good bows as well, nice job of the boxes.

Funny you should say that, it was bought by a return client who is an avid archer who has a laminated bow that contains the NG Black Palm.
He asked me to make a bow carry case from the Palm but i politely refused.

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