Black Palm

[John Walls]

Think it would make a good handle for a mallet? Looks pretty porous for sure. Also picked up some 3x3x12 Redheart and Bocote. I'm thinking the Redheart for the mallet head, what say ya'll? Also picked up 2x2x12 Grenadillo. The mallet will be used with my wood-chisels sets. The rest of the wood I may use for boxes.
All this exotic wood caught my eye when I went into a fancy hardwood suppy store. There is nothing but oak/maple/pine in the stores within 100 miles of my place so I was like a kid in a candy store. I will probably continue practicing on pine/maple and some oak when I can get to it (still burried in snow/ice for now).

 

[Richard Coers]

Material selection depends on the tool's use. You say chisels, but will you be striking carving chisels or driving a mortise chisel with the mallet? I would not use black palm for a mallet handle. It reminds me of a corn stalk, long string fibers in a soft matrix. Also I turn all my mallets from one piece of wood.

 

[John Walls]

Mostly mortise chisels, I don't do carving (yet). I have some mahogany I might use for the mallet instead. I have made a couple one piece mallets from pine but only as practice/design on what fits my hand.
What would be a good use for the black palm? Would that make some interesting small boxes, or?
I have a Talon Chuck package ordered as well as a fingernail grind 1/2 bowel chisel. I will practice with pine/maple before getting into the fancy/pricey wood blanks. When I can get to it, I have alot of elm/ash firewood to split.

 

[hockenbery]

Think it would make a good handle for a mallet? L

No!
It is denser than most palms but it is still grass and not wood.
It has no grain. Like Richard said long fibers.

Palm in general is like a bundle of dry spaghetti held together with play dough but harder to turn than the spaghetti & play dough would be.

sharp tools, light cuts, bevel riding. Most Palm needs a lot of CA or other stabilizing to cut well. once the little fibers get loose from the spongy material holding them together they start to tear rather than cut.
Black palm depending on the piece may no need stabilizing

most palm is combined with a wooden foot and wooden trim.
Because the endgrain fibers are easier to glue to wood than to cut cleanly

What would be a good use for the black palm?

if it were mine I’d donate it to club wood raffle
It is often pretty.
Can work as a small box. I you use wood for the matching parts of the lid and maybe for the base.
Most of the palm here is turned into hollow forms.with wood for the foot and rim.

i don’t much care for turning palm. Helpfully you get some guidance from people who do.

 

[John Walls]

Welp, I'm glad I did not pay much for the grass..... LOL, lesson learned. Sure looks purdy!

 

[hockenbery]

Welp, I'm glad I did not pay much for the grass..... LOL, lesson learned. Sure looks purdy!

Some people love turning palm. It’s just no fun. Dusty nasty stuff

 

[Richard Coers]

End grain black palm makes a wonderful inlay in a box lid. Mahogany would be too soft for a mallet head. My favorites are hard maple, white oak, hickory, pecan, or osage orange.

 

[John Walls]

End grain black palm makes a wonderful inlay in a box lid.

I'd love to see an example, would you happen to have a pic of this?

 

[robo hippy]

I had a piece of black palm once, and never forgave the guy who gave it to me. For bowl grain, terrible, nasty, horrible stuff. I do have one end grain turned piece of regular palm, light color, and it is pretty. I think you can get good surfaces with end grain, but NO side grain.... Mallet heads, other than what has been listed, dog wood, persimmon, hop horn beam, iron wood, mountain mahogany, black locust, and probably a few others.

robo hippy

 

[John Walls]

I have some (wet) maple and 4-5 yr old red oak firewood. Would either of those be good? I don't know if the maple is sugar or rock (?) maple, how would I tell which?

 

[Bill Boehme]

End grain black palm makes a wonderful inlay in a box lid. Mahogany would be too soft for a mallet head. My favorites are hard maple, white oak, hickory, pecan, or osage orange.

I'd love to see an example, would you happen to have a pic of this?

I'm not Richard, but here is a box with a black palm cabachon that I won at SWAT several years ago. It was turned in a box making demo by Kip Christensen. Actual size is 2¾" tall.

I have some (wet) maple and 4-5 yr old red oak firewood. Would either of those be good? I don't know if the maple is sugar or rock (?) maple, how would I tell which?

I think that the red oak is likely to splinter. If the maple is hard maple then that would be good. Sugar maple, rock maple, and hard maple are the same thing as far as I know, but I could be mistaken. Some species of soft maple might be too soft. Osage Orange would be good. So would Blackjack Oak.

 

[John Walls]

Interesting, thanks! I burn alot of the red oak in my fireplace, have split alot and I think your right, it splinters like crazy when I'm splitting in. I was hoping I could turn it but if it comes apart that easy maybe it won't be a good candidate.
I also have some elm, some piss elm (burn some, you'll understand why the name) and some ash. Would that make for good turning? I'm sure going to be unhappy if I have to start buying all the wood to supply this new addiction.

 

[robo hippy]

Just about any medium hard wood will work for tool handles, though for hammers, axes, idiot sticks (shovel is the one I am most familiar with), where heavy duty use is expected, then hickory is probably the best bet as it takes leverage stresses very well. Ash is good as well. Do make sure to use as straight of grain pieces as you can get, and ideal is to rive or split off sections. I had one walnut handle once that had cross grain in it. I was tapping off sludge and wet wood build up, and is split across the handle. I have made some out of cabinet grade plywood/apple ply/baltic birch, and they work fine. I do make a point to never hang too far off the tool rest, at least not any more...

robo hippy

 

[Russell Nugent]

Interesting, thanks! I burn alot of the red oak in my fireplace, have split alot and I think your right, it splinters like crazy when I'm splitting in. I was hoping I could turn it but if it comes apart that easy maybe it won't be a good candidate.
I also have some elm, some piss elm (burn some, you'll understand why the name) and some ash. Would that make for good turning? I'm sure going to be unhappy if I have to start buying all the wood to supply this new addiction.

Im no master but I live in alberta where the native trees are trembling Aspen (called poplar here), and balsam poplar are pretty much the only native trees. I turn both happily( I've always been told I have low standards), I've made bowls, boxes and christmas decorations from them without too many issues. When I can get my hands on elm, box elder, silver maple or ash from tree removals I do a little happy dance. I even got an oak log this year which is pretty rare here in alberta. I haven't paid for wood since the first year of my 3 years turning. I dry a bunch of spindle blanks up to about 3 inches and rough turn all my bowls. There's no way i could afford to turn if i had to pay hardwood prices around here.