ABOUT KOA
 Since moving to the island of
Hawaii I have been working primarily in Koa. I work with other
Hawaiian woods and exotics from around the world as they are
available and as clients request them. Koa (acacia Koa) exists
naturally only in Hawaii. The finest Koa comes from the Island
of Hawaii above 3500 feet. The growing conditions here are more
stressful and the tree develops a great variety of color and
a wonderful intricacy of grain. Koa has a great variety of grain
patterns and colors-it curls, it waves and ripples, it’s
straight, it has small circles called pomele. The color ranges
from light brown to deep red and brown hues-some as dark as chocolate.
It has the weight and strength properties similar to black walnut.
The Koa wood that I use comes from people who harvest wood that
is dead or dying. This allows the young Koa trees light and air
to grow. The Koa roots are often loosened with a bulldozer and
then the tree is pushed over slowly with the blade and lowered
to earth. When the Koa is harvested in this manner there is no
loss of wood caused by traditional logging methods. The intricacy
and variety of grain found in Koa cause the wood (in tree form)
to be under great pressure. When Koa is harvested in the traditional
way with a chain saw and falls to earth with a bang, a large
percentage of furniture grade wood is lost to splitting and shattering.
Alter falling the wood is then cut into large boards and air
dried for one to two years. It is then placed in our dehumidifying
kiln for another three to six months before it is ready to be
made into furniture.
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