I was perusing the selection up at the hardwood shop the other day and saw a piece of Palm.  Has a pretty radical grain and I curious if anyone has used it as veneer, under glass, in a bow.

Thanks,

Ken

I've used a little for knife-handles & I once had an ELB made solely from black palm. I'm not sure if it would be possible to cut it into a thin veneer. The wood doesn't have a grain, as such. It's almost like a bunch of very dense fibres running through very soft wood. When I've worked with it, the darker, fibrous wood is VERY tough, where the lighter surrounding wood is almost 'punky'

Palm is actually not a wood, it's a grass like corn and bamboo.  Most of the woodworkers stabilize it so it can be worked more easily. This really makes it beautiful. I can't tell you if it would work as a veneer, but it sure would look pretty in a bow.  Matt

i made a knife handle out if it its beautiful but it sucks to work with.

Thanks everyone for the input.

Ken

The black palm I have worked with (very little) did not have an overly soft white wood grain, makes some cool looking knife handles.  Grain is best described as "black tubes".  Just finished this knife (ATS34 stainless blade, treated)

Yes, that black is from the stabilizing procedure(plasticized I think).  Sure does look neat!

Don't do it! The material between the needles is very punky. It will split under pressure.

I know....I tried it....buy something else for veneers.

And don't use it in the riser either....stuff just isn't strong enough.