Black Palm Turning Blanks

Black Palm comes from the tough outer rings of a palm tree native to Australia and Southeast Asia. The wood has a distinctive streaked or speckled pattern, with a deep brown backdrop and flecks of black. It is hard, extremely durable but not as heavy as one would expect. These turning blanks are available in an assortment of sizes for pens, carvings, bottle stoppers, game pieces, tool handles, table legs, spindles, finials, candlesticks and whatever else your imagination can conjure up!

Due to high demand and limited supply, we cannot always guarantee that this item will be in stock. Turning Blanks come rough sawn to nominal thickness and are coated with wax. Native to: Prevalent in North Queensland, Australia. Native to rainforests of Australia and Southeast Asia. Tree: A tall, attractive palm, growing up to about 60' tall, with a 12' canopy. Trunk is smooth and closely ringed, and becomes nearly black as the palm ages. Color: Dark wood, streaked with blacks and browns. Sometimes the flecks are closely-spaced resulting in an almost black appearance. End grain is speckled and resembles lizard skin or hammered leather. End grain has a dramatic look when used as inlay. Working Characteristics: Turns very well.

Customer Reviews and Photos for: Black Palm Turning Blanks Average Rating: (3.7) (7 customer reviews) Add your review...

1) Submitted by Brandon Stanley, from Franklin, IN on 10/10/2009 Customer Rating: This is a very good product. I bought it for jewelry making. It is very hard to cut, but in the end it is worth the work to make things from it. The end grain of this wood is amazing. But again remember this wood is quite dense so it makes for a hard cut. also when sanding: The wood tends to get ashy on the lighter grains. Either way I will be buying more. A shot of the end grain. (click to see full-size picture in new window)

2) Submitted by Phil Freeman, from Lyeffion, AL on 3/26/2009 Customer Rating: I've been turning black palm pens for a while now, and after some initial experimentation, I am finally experiencing very good results. Palm is not a true wood, but a member of the grass family. The cells all run roughly parallel, and are prone to chip and break. Don't turn your piece to within more than 1/16 inch or so of final size, then sand. Apply several coats of cyanoacrylate glue, with acelerator, as a final finish, sanding at low speed between applications. The results are outstanding!

3) Submitted by John Horrocks, from Milford, CT on 3/19/2009 Customer Rating: The negatives of this wood, in my opinion, are that it is a very dry wood that produces alot of dust when turned. It is however easy to turn. The dust is almost like fiberglass. Wear long sleeves and a mask. The positives are, well look at it. It's a very beautiful, unique wood. It almost looks like a man made laminated wood. I will be buying more. Oyster knife with Damascus blade (click to see full-size picture in new window)

4) Submitted by Raymond E. James, from Morehead, KY on 3/9/2008 Customer Rating: I will very highly recommend the Black Palm Turning stock from Rockler, The stock turned very easily on my Lathe and came out looking Great. Thanks again Rockler for the great service and speedy service. Black Palm Polaris Pen (click to see full-size picture in new window)

5) Submitted by Ana, from Reno, NV on 11/16/2008 Customer Rating: My son recently turned this wood to make me a bottle stopper. I loved the grain but he told me that it was very rough even after sanding it with a 600 grit.

6) Submitted by Sol Guber, from St. Louis, MO on 12/20/2008 Customer Rating: No problems with Rockler or service, but this is not a turning wood. I made a french rolling pin out of the 1.5 x 1.5 x 24 inch stock. It looked beautriful, but when I tried to put finish on it, I got a handful of splinters. The fibers are parallel to the length and delaminate easily.

7) Submitted by Jonathan Whitney, from Thomson, IL on 2/14/2008 Customer Rating: This was my first time turning this wood and I found it very difficult, particularly the small diameters. The primary difficulty is the course grain of the palm getting caught by the turning tools and chipping. I believe mine are very sharp, but they may be dulling quickly. They were sharpened to 1500 grit with a mirror shine and cut maple like butter and that wood needed no sanding. Some of the black palm was very smooth after turning, but often a long sliver would lift or chip out and occasionally a piece would break off. I'm a novice turner, so I may simply need more experience and need to keep my tools sharp. Also, this was my experience after just one piece that I tossed. Need to 16 good chess pieces out of quite a few pieces of wood remaining so I will either have learned how or have lots of small pieces of kindling.