# Curious...can palm trees be split/burned?



## mass_burner (Jan 23, 2014)

I grew up in southern california, no fireplace, barely any heat to speak of, just 2 gas wall mounted radiant heaters. But we had palms everywhere?


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## Applesister (Jan 23, 2014)

Yes they can but you must drink a bottle of Jamaican Rum first.


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## CenterTree (Jan 23, 2014)

I believe the wood is valued mainly for "lumber" in a lot of tropical areas. 

Same with coconut "Timber".

I do know for certain that you can burn coconut shells!  Been there and done it.


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## Backwoods Savage (Jan 23, 2014)

It is wood. Wood will burn.


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## firefighterjake (Jan 23, 2014)

Backwoods Savage said:


> It is wood. Wood will burn.



. . . unless it's petrified wood.


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## weatherguy (Jan 23, 2014)

How many btu's in palm tree wood, seems really hard to me.


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## gzecc (Jan 24, 2014)

Don't think palm is actually wood. I think its like compressed grass. Probably very little BTUs.


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## BobUrban (Jan 24, 2014)

Palms - at least palms around or near the ocean are hell on saws and anything steel do to the salt content as I understand. A good pro saw that should last a homeowner many, many years or even a lifetime of firewood gathering with a moderate amount of maintenance will rot cutting palm trees in a few years unless fully disassembled and thoroughly cleaned every time you cut. Somehow that wood/salt eats mag cases.  I have seen these saws and they rot from the inside out.  I can only imagine what it would do to a stove and flue system. 

So can it burn? - everything burns if you get it hot enough.  I have melted fire bricks in my forge!  Would it be a good choice or economical to burn - No.


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## DougA (Jan 24, 2014)

The title was great for a laugh. It's come to that, as the world freezes over.


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## Paulywalnut (Jan 24, 2014)

I know dry coconut shells burn pretty hot.


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## mstoelton (Jan 25, 2014)

Palm is full of water when alive.  Water will literally spray out of it when it is cut live.  Extremely fibrous.  My mom and dad lived in Key Largo FL. for 11 years.  They had to cut several palms.  They never tried to burn it.

It would probably split ok once it was bucked.  Not sure on BTU content.


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## mass_burner (Jan 25, 2014)

I do know first hand it is hard. One day in about '75, the two teenage brothers who lived behind me got zoned out on reds and drove their mom's '65 tbird into the palm in our front yard going 60+ mph. The car basically crumpled around the tree. Tree is now about 200 ft high (don't know where the brothers are).


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## Firewood Bandit (Jan 25, 2014)

BobUrban said:


> Palms - at least palms around or near the ocean are hell on saws and anything steel do to the salt content as I understand. A good pro saw that should last a homeowner many, many years or even a lifetime of firewood gathering with a moderate amount of maintenance will rot cutting palm trees in a few years unless fully disassembled and thoroughly cleaned every time you cut. Somehow that wood/salt eats mag cases.  I have seen these saws and they rot from the inside out.  I can only imagine what it would do to a stove and flue system.
> 
> So can it burn? - everything burns if you get it hot enough.  I have melted fire bricks in my forge!  Would it be a good choice or economical to burn - No.


 

I have heard the same thing regarding palm eating up saws.


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## Nick Mystic (Jan 25, 2014)

I don't know how palm trees burn, but I can tell you first hand you need to handle them with care. When I moved to Florida in 1970 to attend the University of South Florida it was the first time I had ever seen a palm tree up close and personal. One night while slightly intoxicated my buddy and I tried to climb a couple of palm trees like you see the natives do in movies. Due to the inebriation neither one of us sensed the scores of palm fiber splinters we were jamming into the palms of our hands as we attempted to shimmy up the trees. Or maybe it was when we slid back down that we loaded up our hands with the splinter. At any rate, removing them the next day was a painful adventure I wouldn't relive for quite a bit of money!


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## Wood Duck (Jan 25, 2014)

I don't think palm trunks are actually wood. The ones I have seen cut into pieces looked more like an accumulation of dense fibers, but not really wood. In any case, it was very fibrous and looked tough to split.


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## jillybeansisme (Feb 23, 2014)

And palm trees love to harbor scorpions . . . at least in Nevada.


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## ArsenalDon (Feb 23, 2014)

CenterTree said:


> I believe the wood is valued mainly for "lumber" in a lot of tropical areas.
> 
> Same with coconut "Timber".
> 
> ...


now you have made me hungry


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## ArsenalDon (Feb 23, 2014)

To OP....so they have palm trees in SE Mass?


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## gzecc (Feb 23, 2014)

mass_burner said:


> I do know first hand it is hard. One day in about '75, the two teenage brothers who lived behind me got zoned out on reds and drove their mom's '65 tbird into the palm in our front yard going 60+ mph. The car basically crumpled around the tree. Tree is now about 200 ft high (don't know where the brothers are).


 The trunks are very resilient. During the revolutionary war, there was a fort in So. Carolina that repelled the British using palm trees as fortifications. The cannon balls bounced off.  This is why SC has the Palm Tree on their license plates.


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## mass_burner (Feb 23, 2014)

ArsenalDon said:


> To OP....so they have palm trees in SE Mass?


see original post.


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