Post #755433 by For the Love of Tiki on Tue, Dec 1, 2015 10:02 AM

Here’s the current work in progress. Almost ready for stain. This was carved from a Mexican fan palm. I carved a little deeper than usual and was surprised to find how much harder the wood was. My first experiences with this type of wood wasn’t that great… it was fibrous - sort of like carving shredded wheat. I then got a couple of good pieces and it was like carving a bar of soap. After that, I knew what you guys had been talkin about - this, being a preferred wood to carve and being way better than the queen palms (from which I had carved a fair amount of tikis early on).
I’m recognizing the value of allowing logs time to cure and dry out - prior to carving. Still, it looks like there are a lot of variables when it comes to the quality of palm wood.