Hawaiian Koa , Milo, Kou, and other native woods are some of the most striking, beautiful woods in the world. Contact me so we can work on your one-of-a-kind family heirloom
Acacia Koa is a flowering tree in the pea family. It is endemic to Hawaii. In the Hawaiian, Language Koa means warrior, brave and or fearless.
Native Hawaiians used it the make canoes and surfboards. Koa is a valuable and renewable source.
The Koa that I use for my art is mostly windfall Koa. I have found ancient trees toppled over after some big storms, and I was told by a wildlife biologist one of the trees that I recovered from certain slow disintegration in the forest to be more than 400 years old!
A closely related species to the Koa is the Koa’ia. Or Koa of the Fish. I was lucky to have found a grove of Koa’ia in the wild and recovered several pieces. The Hawaiian’s used to tie a knot on a young branch, then go back a few years later and the branch had the shape of the fishing hook, they just needed to carve it a bit more, and it was ready to be used for fishing. I found Koa’ia to be very hard, dense, heavy, and a bit brittle due to its consistency.
As a woodturner, I can use the parts of the tree that a furniture maker can’t use, mainly the crotches. That is where the best and most colorful curly grain is located! After the local mills harvest the wood for furniture, I get to pick up what they couldn’t use, which is perfect for us lathe artists…
Click on the images below for a larger picture.
Native Hawaiians used it the make canoes and surfboards. Koa is a valuable and renewable source.
The Koa that I use for my art is mostly windfall Koa. I have found ancient trees toppled over after some big storms, and I was told by a wildlife biologist one of the trees that I recovered from certain slow disintegration in the forest to be more than 400 years old!
A closely related species to the Koa is the Koa’ia. Or Koa of the Fish. I was lucky to have found a grove of Koa’ia in the wild and recovered several pieces. The Hawaiian’s used to tie a knot on a young branch, then go back a few years later and the branch had the shape of the fishing hook, they just needed to carve it a bit more, and it was ready to be used for fishing. I found Koa’ia to be very hard, dense, heavy, and a bit brittle due to its consistency.
As a woodturner, I can use the parts of the tree that a furniture maker can’t use, mainly the crotches. That is where the best and most colorful curly grain is located! After the local mills harvest the wood for furniture, I get to pick up what they couldn’t use, which is perfect for us lathe artists…
Click on the images below for a larger picture.
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Ancient giant Koa tree
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Giant old Koa
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Koa blanks
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The Magic of Koa!
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Gnarly old giant Koa
There is nothing more fun than going up the volcano Haleakala to look for windfall Koa. That's me standing next to an ancient huge Hawaiian Acacia Koa tree. We know this tree it's at least 200 years old before the wild Spanish goats were introduced, they eat all the small Koa, so there are no young or new trees. The government has planted about 50.000 native trees in one fenced in area and eliminated all angulate and all other invasive species.
Hawaiian Koa Wood Gifts
