Any experience with palm tree wood?

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My neighbourg has cut down a couple of palm trees he had in his garden and I asked for couple of pieces as I've seen some carvings made by polinesian indigens that looked great.

Has any of you worked with that wood? The green trunks are literally dripping water and they are like compresed fibers, I hope that they will not split. I know that once dry they are very lightweight.
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I have turned black palm and as you describe it is "stringy". It is a good wood for my students to learn patience in sanding as it will finish nicely but does take diligence to get it smooth. Don't know if this is the same type of wood or not, but that is my experience with palm wood.
 
Lots of it around here, but don't anyone who works - at least more than once! Do know some turners who have tried it and swore never again. But maybe it carves better than it turns.

Curious here. Do you plan to 'slice' it into 'boards' so as to be able to carve on 'face' or long grain? Wonder if you need to cut the log in half the long way to aid in drying. Also wonder if it has a pith that would contribute to splitting.

But any wood fiber ought to yield nicely to a sharp edge. Keep us posted.
 
Kept meaning to when we lived in Hawaii but never got any. It's supposed to be pretty high in silica and rough on tools. The center is usually pretty soft, but seems to vary between types.

I also heard a possibly apocryphal story about soaking it in sea water to cure, supposedly it made the wood harder, but haven't actually met anyone who's done that (and the salt seems like a bad idea but who knows). The down trees and chunks I saw alongside the road didn't seem that prone to splitting so you might? get away with cutting whole rounds (but it was pretty certainly a different type of Palm).

Will be interested to see what you end up with anyway.
 
Grain-wise, it's pretty 'stringy.' Think of tightly bundled strands of grass. Never tried turning it, and only used it as long grain lumber once. Didn't care much for either the stringy texture, or the straight-line grain pattern. BTW, what I used was called "Queen Palm." Other varieties may vary in texture and density.
 

I do not know what kind of palm tree it was, here we know only the whasingtonianan and the canariensis types, if when dry it looks as what you show me Vaughn it may become a pretty sculpture.

I'm not thinking about turning it but rather making a sculpture on the round, we shall see, first I have to let it dry, and depending on wether it splits or not and how hard it may be to carve I will do one thing or just toss them away.
 
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