Black Palm advice

[martyb]

For those out who've turned black palm.
What's your trick? I've recently come into some black palm for pens and bottle stoppers and find the stuff most miserable to deal with.
I'm sure there's a better way, so I thought I'd ask!

Do you just harden with thin CA as you go, or do you stabilize ahead of time to keep it from splintering apart?

I don't have my vacuum setup set-up yet, so I've been using thin CA. It's helped, but still miserable.

How do you do it?

 

[Joe Melton]

Marty, I've not had a problem with plane-cut black palm. Cross-cut is a different story.
Just keep your tool sharp. As soon as the blank is round, start in the middle and work toward the ends. That way, you are always cutting down on the grain, rather than up, so there is less tendency for the grain to tear.
Hope this helps.
Joe

 

[alamocdc]

Marty, I've yet to turn black palm, but my red palm gave me the same fits until I started using CA as I turned it.

 

[TomJ]

I just finished my first black palm. It was a little difficult. Sharp tools are the key. Leave some room for good sanding. It makes a nice looking pen.

Tom

 

[nilsatcraft]

I've done a couple of palm blanks and I hated it until I got close to my final shape. At that point I switched to a nice sharp skew instead of a gouge and made shear cuts and it worked wonderfully. I can't say that I'm eager to turn more but it can look fantastic when finished, especially when paired with the proper platings or complimentary woods. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

[JimGo]

Billy must have learned that technique from me, 'cause that's what I do too. If there's one nice thing about black palm, it's that it tends to split along the "white" areas, and you can reconstruct the shattered blank pretty easily and without it showing too badly. Of course, that's just what I've heard... []

 

[ctEaglesc]

If you want a real challange do a sepmented black palm red palm glue up.
This is the one that beat me.
I eventually soaked it in a pickle jar of acetone

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[Stretch]

For me, sanding is the key.

 

[TomJ]

awsome!![]

Originally posted by ctEaglesc
<br />If you want a real challange do a sepmented black palm red palm glue up.
This is the one that beat me.
I eventually soaked it in a pickle jar of acetone

<br />

 

[martyb]

Sounds like I'm on (or at least near) the right track.
And sounds like it's time to put a little better edge on the tools.
Everyone, thanks for the advice!

I don't think I'm up to that skill level for a segmented pen. It's beautiful, but my wife already considers me crazy.

 

[kent4Him]

I've had a black palm blank commercially stablized, and I can't say it helped that much. My only advice is to keep the tools sharp, use CA often, take light cuts, and be prepared to use your fill techique.

 

[ed4copies]

You guys make me feel really good!!!

I have never used CA on black palm and have successfully turned quite a few pens, magnifiers and letter openers. However, I do resort to sandpaper with about 1/16" left to "finished size". Usually have one or two pits to remove with the sandpaper. Last "tool" step is a couple passes with a skew and a few prayers.[][][]