A box of Koa - Not a Koa Box #1: Introductions

Gorgeous wood Steve I think when undecided wait for the right project to dictate how you cut it. Although I had a similar situation with some maple so I cut a couple of veneers to bookmatch off the deepest side then rolled it over 90 degrees & sliced the whole of the rest that way I had examples of all the faces I liked. But Koa is quite precious isn’t it?
Hope you make good choices
Best
Trevor

-- God created wood that we may create. Trevor East Yorkshire UK

Thanks Trevor! It is going to be a tricky balance. I want to make sure I have a good use for a piece before I commit to it. On the other hand, I do not want to let these pieces jsut sit in the shipping box for the next 20 years. I have some wood that I have had for that long and it gets to the point that I forget I have them.

-- Steve - Impatience is Expensive

Nice array of curly koa Steve. I always love rounding edges of curly wood. it gives the grain a sense of continuity and flow around a finished piece. what to do with it? I would contemplate on a design 10 times before cutting once! Can’t wait to see what you do with it buddy!

-- Benji Reyes, Antipolo, Philippines, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Benji-Reyes/88321902103?ref=ts

Nice score Steve. On the last piece, if you want to keep both grains as in the original piece for drawer fronts, you could slice one veneer off the back, one off the front and then one off the top. That would give perfect corner matches, or two off the front and one off the top for almost perfect but matching fronts. Man, you’ve got lots of fun planning to do.

I’ll be watching.

-- Paul M ..............If God wanted us to have fiberglass boats he would have given us fiberglass trees. http://prmdesigns.com/

Thanks Benji – Rounded edges is a great suggestion! Taking that to the extreme would be to do a turning. I find myself often pondering a turning for #6 but have not gotten the right inspiration yet.

Paul – I really like the idea of slicing veneers each side. One result would be progessively smaller veneers which would set up for a series of progressively smaller drawer fronts! That has got me thinking… Thanks!

-- Steve - Impatience is Expensive

Beautiful wood….Koa is such eye candy. That size is about right for boxes, frames or inlays. A couple of those pieces would make beautiful pens also. You can also segment some beautiful turnings from those also. I made a trivet out of glued up Koa pen blanks and gave it to a friend of mine….his wife loves it….she said she would love to have her whole kitchen done in Koa (until I told her how expensive that would be – she said she still would love it….but only after they win the lotto).

-- Woodworking.....My small slice of heaven!

Good ideas reggiek – Segmented turnings have really caurght my eye. One of the benefits to LJs is seeing all the different kinds of projects people have done. I would want to do a practice project before I committed the Koa to that! I have several scraps that could be made into pen blanks. The Koa would be another reason to get set up for that.

-- Steve - Impatience is Expensive

Steve,
I have a koa frame around a map of the Hawaiian Islands. It is some of the most beautiful wood I have seen.
You scored bigtime!
Ellen

-- Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Thanks Ellen – I knew I was in trouble once I found out this store sold raw lumber. It never occurred to me that I would come back with koa as a souvenir! I’ll be posting the results of the first board shortly…

-- Steve - Impatience is Expensive

Fantastic wood Steve. It will be interesting to see what you come up with.

-- Mike, American in Norway

Good to hear from you Mike! I’m interested as well ;)

-- Steve - Impatience is Expensive

Nice find. I do love the koa.

-- Bill - "Freedon flies in your heart like an Eagle" Audie Murphy

Aloha.
What a great selection of fine timber..

-- Drink twice... and don't bother to cut... @ larrysworkshop.wordpress.com For lovers of all things timber...

Dang, I needed to read this last week when I was in Hawaii looking for Koa. I would have ordered it from your source on Kauai….hoping the internet guy I ordered from is on the up and up. Koa is absolutely gorgeous and it was everywhere at the resort we stayed at Koolina, Oahu. I spent as much time gawking at woodwork and carvings as I did the beach.
I found a Woodcraft store in Honolulu, but they only had huge boards and the guy was too busy hitting on some chick to talk with me and my son so I bailed.
Thanks for the other Koa source.

-- Scott "Some days you are the big dog, some days you are the fire hydrant"

Larry & Bill – I have to agree, these are some of my favorite pieces.

Scott – I feel comfortable recommending this source. Their selection was not huge, but have a nice range from smaller to larger pieces. Also, thier finished products show they know how to make good use of it!

-- Steve - Impatience is Expensive