Workability: Tends to be quite difficult to work with both machine and hand tools. The hard fibers contrast with the soft body of the wood, and can be brittle and splinter or pull out. Very sharp tools and correct cutting angles are required to get clean results. Applying a hardener or sanding sealer prior to final sanding/machining may help give a more homogenous density and reduce tearout. The lighter colored body of the wood tends to absorb larger quantities of finish, so care must be taken during finishing; a sanding sealer is recommended.
Technically neither a softwood nor a hardwood, palm falls into the category of monocots, which also includes bamboo, grass, banana, rice, wheat, corn, etc. (Monocot is short for monocotyledon, which simply means that the seed of the plant contains one leaf, rather than two as found in dicots.) Palm woods have no growth rings, and as a result, the shrinkage rate for drying the wood is more or less uniform between the radial and tangential surfaces, resulting in a T/R ratio of 1.0 and good dimensional stability.
Black Palm is highly variable in weight, strength, and hardness properties because the wood is so non-homogenous: the trunk is a gradient between the strong fibrovascular bundles, and the softer cellulose structure. Toward the outer wall of the trunk, the density of the wood is the greatest, and gradually becomes lighter, softer, and weaker towards the soft core. Because of this great variability, the density of Black Palm can range from less than 25 lbs/ft3 (400 kg/m3), to over 62 lbs/ft3 (1000 kg/m3)—where it will actually sink in water. A quick visual inspection of prospective wood blanks can help screen out undesired pieces: darker wood usually has a denser packing of fibers, and tends to produce heavier, stronger, and harder material.