Red palm wood (Cocos nucifera) comes from southeast Asia and is one of the most unusual woods of the world: its structure is unlike any other wood, it has very unusual grain consisting of interlocking strands of light-yellow to pink reddish colour with attractive red to reddish-brown to black streaks. The end grain in this wood looks really neat. An excellent turning wood, it is hard and finishes fine, yet a bit brittle. As palm trees are no real trees but like a grass or bamboo, only the exterior of the stem is usable and hard, the interior being soft and weak. During the Art-deco period it was used on finest designer furniture. Very beautiful material for woodturning too!
