I have found at least the following species that have the name black palm and I have no idea which of them are represented on this page unless specifically listed.
Arenga pinnata
Astrocarynum stanleyanum
Astrocarynum standleyi
Borassus aethiopium
Borassus flabellifer
Jessenia bataua
Jessenia polycarpa
Normanbya normanbyi
All reports agree that the black palm tree has a soft, mushy core (pith area) that is not useable as wood and that one consequence of this is that the wood tends to be sold only in narrow turning sticks or very small planks no more than a few inches wide.
my samples:
sample piece and end grain. This was labled as Astrocarynum (sic) spp. from Malaysia
end grain closeup of the sample piece directly above
web pics
planks and turning stock
turning stock
misc pieces all listed as Borassus flabellifer
bowl blank
pen blanks --- the color on the first set is unlikely unless the wood has been bleached
end grain
scales
bowl
these are all views of a table made from built-up sections of black palm. As you can see clearly in the closeups there are shallow tongue and groove joints between the sections.
