Black Palm?

[jeremy1517]

Does anyone have any experience working with Black Palm as knife scales? Is it a good scale material?

I really like the look of it, I was curious if it is easy to work with and finishes well? Any tips or tricks with working with the Palm?

 

[Bob Ohlemann]

I know it's a pain in the ass when you're trudging through the jungles of Panama in the middle of the night! I bet it would look good as a scale material.

Bob

 

[spketch]

I've used stabilized black palm for several sets of scales with great results. It's not too much trouble if you're careful and fairly gentle while working it. The only issue I've had is at the edge of a scale where the black bits in the wood like to tear out. Sanding parallel to the plane of the scale minimizes this in my experience.
It's cheap enough that it's worth trying out to see how it goes for you.

 

[Burl Source]

I would suggest using stabilized palm if you can find any.
The unstabilized is very coarse and splintery. Palm wood is like a bundle of straw.
Even stabilized you need to work with care, but the results can be beautiful.

 

[Patrickknives]

Stabilized is the only way to go

 

[A Justice]

I would suggest using stabilized palm if you can find any.
The unstabilized is very coarse and splintery. Palm wood is like a bundle of straw.
Even stabilized you need to work with care, but the results can be beautiful.

That was my thoughts on unstabilized Palm. We have some black palm that wasn't stabilized in a lot of scale blanks, and it has remained to the very end. Probably 20 other kinds of woods used up first. Still haven't used it because of the feel.

Crosscut patterns of Black and Red Palm turn out great if they are finished well, and look even better IMO.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I work with a lot of black palm. It has to be stabilized to use as a knife handle. The nickname for it in the wood world is "porcupine wood", because it is a bundle of splinters. Stabilizing locks these into a solid block.

The biggest trick with palm to get a great look is to cut it on the bias. The end grain is dots. While that looks good, it lacks strength. The side grain has a stripe pattern and is strong, but the pattern is so-so. The best cut is at 45°. Also, angling the blade about 30° tilt while cutting the board at 45° gets an even nicer pattern. All cutting must be done after stabilizing.

Black palm works well on small knife handles, and is really attractive on fillet knives, because the bias cut pattern looks like fish scales.

 

[Fiddleback]

I love Black Palm. Its very obviously unusable when its not stabilized. LOL. It really takes dye well during the stabilizing.

 

[phillipsted]

I found it to be terribly finicky to work with. Kept getting tear outs and splintering, even on stuff stabilized at well-known shops. When drilling, make sure not to use dull bits as it will cause tear-out. Also I would not recommend using rasps - files and sandpaper are a better bet.

I'm probably not going to work with it much any more. It is challenging, but not fun to work... That's my $0.02.

TedP

 

[Fiddleback]

I find it is worth those qualities because of a specific property of the wood that I really love. That is that it SELLS knives! Man, that stuff sells.

I never use a rasp on handle woods anyway. The roughest file I'd use is a double cut half round bastard file. That will still tear out this palm, but again. $$$$

 

[Fiddleback]

Double post. Sorry.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I totally agree with Fiddleback - Black Palm, especially the bias cut type, will sell a knife in a heartbeat.

Years back, Herb Derr would buy every block of bias cut Stabilized Black Palm I took to the show off my table before the show opened. Why??? - because it sells!

There is a lot of variety in black palm, as in many woods, between the low grade softer stuff and good dense wood. I have seen palm that could be torn apart with the fingernails, even after stabilizing. And palm that can be pounded on with a hammer and barely leave a mark. That is why I buy the good stuff from a supplier that knows what he is selling, and what I will use it for. I have had excellent results with the boards I get from Gilmer Exotic woods. Good grade boards above 4"X1" are hard to get. As in any product...you usually get what you pay for.