questions about palm from a noob...

Well, I have successfully made 3 tikis without a problem, but being a beginner, I hit my first roadblock over the weekend.

I procured a bunch of palm sections, of different varieties, thicknesses & lengths from a guy with a tree service. I took them home & it's obvious they're still a bit wet. Tried to take the planer to one of them and just made a mess. It was all stringy and not really wanting to cooperate.

I guess I learned that the palm sections need to dry before I start hackin' 'em up.

So here are my questions:

How long does it take this stuff to dry out? I live in Tampa, so it's plenty hot & sunny, and I put plastic bags over the tops and I'm letting 'em sit outside.

Are there some kinds of palm trees that are good for carving and some that are not?

Is it the wetness that makes them all stringy? Or is that just the nature of some palms?

I'm wondering if I filled up my truck & hauled a bunch of garbage home that I can't even use. And that would suck.

Its possible they are trash - but its also possible they are good. Need more details: species is #1. Florida has too many species of Palm to just pick up some chunks and hope for the best. Queen - bad, Sable - good, Coconut - questionable.

I find it's hit or miss. I've carved a couple of cabbage palms. Both worked, but were fairly soft and tricky to work with.
I know Aloha Station has had problems with coconut palm, but the one piece I carved with it was hard as a rock and wonderful to carve. I should say, though, that only the outer part of the trunk was usable, and the inside was too stringy and had to be removed.
Palm dulls your tools quickly, so sharpen them a lot.
I find that the wood needs to be dry, but not too dry, if you get my meaning.

So, sable is good, queen is bad.

Are there other species that I should learn to identify and stay away from?

Queen and Royal Palm are tough to carve as Aloha mentioned above. They are stringy and spongy throughout. I have had success with other species but I have found the the base of the palm (coconut) is the best part. The further up the palm the larger the spongy center. Its best to let them dry a bit but I cut into em after a month or so. After the initial cuts I let them dry some more and also drill a hole from the bottom to speed up the drying process. My most recent species of successfull palm carve was a Washingtonian (spelling ??). Again the base cut was most excellent and very wood-like. Some time you just have to cut into them and take a look. Hope this helps.

[ Edited by: BUFFBAD 2009-06-17 12:30 ]

Yes, all very helpful.

Looks like I drug home a few good ones, and a few that are useless.

But I learned something so either way it's all good.

Thanks for all the help.