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Thread: What's your favorite Hawaiian wood to turn?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Marysville, WA
    Posts
    119

    What's your favorite Hawaiian wood to turn?

    So I just recently found out that my cousin that lives in Hawaii, has a sawmill and gets loads of local wood from the city, etc. He has his own hardwood business over there, along with an ebay store and we talked recently and he wants to send me some wood from there for me to use, free of charge.

    He's got a good variety of local woods as well as some nice figured stuff. He told me to tell him what I liked from his ebay store and he'll send me a box of stuff. So my question to you is, what's your favorite Hawaiian wood to turn and get great looking pieces out of? That's a loaded question as everything is great in it's own way, but you know what I'm getting at.

    Here's what he's got (or at least that I know of):

    Curly Koa
    Curly Sugi Pine
    Curly Mango
    Curly Cypress
    Ironwood
    Lychee
    Monkey Pod
    Cook Island Pine

  2. #2
    I love turning mango. Beautiful wood and very very stable. Koa is nice as well but harder to get reminds me of turning walnut for some reason. Same type of finish off the tool and how it sands out.
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    No, it's not thin enough yet.
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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Idaho Falls, Idaho
    Posts
    1,356
    Curly Koa, hands down. Because of the look, not because it is easy to turn.
    Brian

    Sawdust Formation Engineer
    in charge of Blade Dulling

  4. #4
    Koa is one of my favorite woods to work with...it takes on an iridescent quality.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Green Valley, Az.
    Posts
    1,202
    Curly Koa......Years ago I visited a friend, Jack Straka, on the big island. He sent me home with two duffle bags of curly koa blanks. I loved it and so did my gallery customers.......wish I had more

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Little Rock, Arkansas
    Posts
    28
    Curly Koa #1, and Spalted Mango #2

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    lufkin tx
    Posts
    2,054
    All of the above for sure. How do we contact your cousin or find him on E-bay?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Fredericksburg, TX
    Posts
    2,576
    You did not say what size wood you were looking to turn. The Norfolk Island Pine there is also a great wood to turn, but shipping becomes a problem for the larger sizes. Flat rate postal boxes are very economical for shipping wood, but limit your sizes, but there is now the Large Board Game box 23.68x11.75x3" available. I hate to admit shipping back 6 large boxes a couple of years back, and carrying back a couple of pieces of NIP in backpack earlier this year. All the HI wood seems to be great, but Mango and Koa are better known.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Clinton Il
    Posts
    174
    Blog Entries
    2
    All the above sounds good! What is his name on eBay?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Marysville, WA
    Posts
    119
    Yeah, I'm not really sure what size pieces they'll send me, but I won't complain. I think I'll ask for some Curly Koa and Mango and go from there.

    His name on eBay is kamuelahardwoodshawaii

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Beautiful Lexington, SC
    Posts
    776
    Dave ... I think it's about time you wake up and realize this is all a dream.

    Tim

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Kapolei Hawaii
    Posts
    3,236
    Curly koa for free? You are one lucky guy....... Even non curly koa is expensive.
    Ask him if he has Pheasant Wood. Since I can't get free koa, that is #2 for me.
    Monkeypod, aka raintree, grows everywhere. You guys probably have it growing there too. It is really beautiful and nice to turn, but impossible to sell since all the wood from the East is MP and 20 bucks for a 12" bowl at any *-mart store. You can get lots of that for free. Its a weed.

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