Need help shaving Phoenix canariensis

[stingray]

Hey all, I have a question about the first shave and clean up of a Canary Island date palm.   Its got about 5’ of trunk before the first leaves and has been growing in its spot for perhaps 17 years.  
 

It’s never been cleaned up and I started to give it a shave yesterday and encountered a bunch of leaf bases that just pulled out. The broken off leaf bases go in 4-5 inches at least but don’t really seam to be rotted, but rather just disintegrating.  I live in Phoenix so moisture is t an issue typically.  
 

I used a chain saw and began cleaning but I’m reluctant to slim it up anymore than it is already, the broken off bases are still not flushed with what I’ve done so far.  
 

How far can I take the cuts before it gets into live trunk? I know these typically are shaved with a pineapple shape on top. I don’t want to damage the tree. Any thoughts on this? I’m all ears.  
 

[Jim in Los Altos]

The rotting and falling off of old leaf bases is typical and no reason for concern. I notice, however that you’ve cut off seemingly healthy green fronds. Avoid that whenever possible and only trim off dead or dying fronds. 

[stingray]

Yeah I try not to cut off green leaves until they’re ratty looking. This palm had a large desert tree fall on it during a monsoon storm last year.  It did some damage to the crown and broke a bunch of fronds but it has since recovered and is growing at a good pace. I cut off some of the leaves which were broken and split. 

I was just wondering how far in I can remove leaf bases before I would get into a no-go area of the trunk. It appears I can still remove some more of the old leaf bases and create the “pineapple” at the top.  But I thought I’d ask around before I took the saw to it again. There’s a lot of stuff on YouTube but nothing that addresses my issue specifically.