Quote Originally Posted by shooter74743 View Post
So you had to go ahead and try the Black palm huh? I found it was a PITA, but once you are successful with making a set out of it they are great looking! Looking good so far. If you are looking for a bit more sheen without the full "gloss", you might try rubbing a couple coats of Renaissance Wax over the tung oil finish after a light sanding of 2K. I am personally not a fan of high gloss on wood scales...but of course that's just one of the many opinions here.

BTW...should get to dance with the PHIG today or tomorrow for the first time...
Black palm is by and far the most miserable material to work with that I've ever come across. Even my carpenter had some choice words for me regarding cutting the black palm and the next two days he spent picking splinters out... The black palm is like working with an old dry splinter filled sponge. It absorbs finish very readily, especially considering that I didn't dilute my tung oil and it darkened and stayed dark.

The one nice thing about adding the tung oil and letting it set up first before cutting into the material is the tung seems to give it more cohesiveness. It will still splinter, but it's a good bit less apt to. With just the plain palm wood, when you sand it, the light parts are softer and the black parts are much harder, so just sanding nets you a very interesting texture. The problem that I had, is that even with very good sanding it still had snags and it would still splinter.