Thread: The Black Palm experience

Hello,

Im on my second set of scales and I wanted to do something a little more eye catching then my last set made in cocobolo. Dont get me wrong the cocobolo is beautiful but if someone was to look at them and not know wood they would think thats just another piece of wood. So I bought black palm, zebra wood, and wenge. I wanted to do black palm first. I got 2"x2"x12" pieces and cut it on my table saw. That wasnt as easy as I thought it was going to be. The palm has very hard large black fibers surrounded by soft chalky brown stuff. If I had a band saw I would have done it on that with a fence set to 3/16" then sand it down to 1/8". After I sanded them down to 1/8" I tried cutting the rough profile with a fine hacksaw. That didnt work because it kept breaking apart and splitting. I switched to the Dermel tool with a metal cutting disk. That worked much better then the hacksaw but it more or less burned through it. I did the final profiling on my 1x30" belt sander. Black palm sands surprisingly well. I tried a 80 grit belt and that would cause it to splinter then I tried a 220 belt. The 220 worked great and I ddint have any problems after that. I contoured the scales on the belt sander then hand sanded them down to 320. At the moment Im applying the ca finish and Ill post photos when Im done.

*If you plan on using black palm for scales buy 1/8" thick stock and have enough to make a few extra scales just incase you snap a set.

*When you cut your profile leave a 1/4" gap and sand down to your final profile shape.

*Stay away from grits under 220 to prevent tearing.

*Use light ca to fill all the pores of the wood.

*Take your time!

Have fun,

Chris

It is a good looking material that works a little better when it's stablized. The CA should be helpful that way. Watch out for splinters or get some good tweezers.

Used to get stuck by the thorns on that stuff in central america.... It would put you inthe hurt locker..due to all the infections because itbreaks off under the skin

I have made a few sets of scales in black palm. Real pain to work with. It will chunk out badly. I used epoxy resin on it which will fill in any divots you happen to accidentally make while cutting sanding. Best way to make them is to cut them thick then sand them to final thickness and shape. Routing/cutting will just tare out the black fibre and make a mess. Stuff is a nightmare to turn on a lathe, I dont even mess with it any more.

Congrats sir! You found out the hard way what we found out the hard way. Black palm is beautiful, but a pain to work the first time. Let's see em!

By the way, wenge is not a ton of fun either but still beautiful.

Darren
RazorSmith.com

Originally Posted by Wintchase

Used to get stuck by the thorns on that stuff in central america.... It would put you inthe hurt locker..due to all the infections because itbreaks off under the skin

Been there, done that, more than once. Ouch! Nothing like running dead square in to one of those trees at 0' darkthirty while on point.

I was just about to pull the trigger on some black palm. Cancel that project. I'm glad I found this thread. Too many pretty woods out there to hassle with that stuff. Thanks.