Kauai Hawaii

[Paul Engle]

Anyone from Kauai HI ? We are going there first week in Jan to preform the wedding of my oldest daughter ( she lives here in Sandpoint ID ) and chase back the snow for 7 days .... and would like to meet any wood turners from the region . A few years back a WWII War vet sent me some Koa , Milo and Lacewood and has passed since then but he lived at Pearl Harbour area. I had done an aniversary bowl in Claro Walnut for his daughter to give them see my earliest posts ( 50 yrs married ! ) and she brought back the wood! I have a piece of Mango burl he sent me 3 yrs ago and when the OT work on a box and when the lid is done I will post along with the two bowls I got from the piece.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Originally from there, don't live there now. Hopefully I can retire and move back there.
They have a Woodturners Club, Google Kauai Woodturners. Good bunch of guys.

[Paul Engle]

Thanks Kyle, I will give it a look !~

[robert baccus]

Be sure to look up Dave at davidgiul@yahoo in Kauia. Nice guy-a woodturner, boxmaker, and wood supplier and expert at all of them. Claims to be a great surfer and beachbum as well. Has a business--Rooster Exotic woods. Google it up. Nice trip--tell him I'll walk in some day.

[Curt Fuller]

When I was there a couple years ago I ran into this place....http://www.thekoastore.com/Locations.aspx . They make and sell mostly their own work but they had a mill in the back of the Lihue store that they told me they sell wood when they have it. (They didn't have any turning blanks when I was there.) I was looking for unique Hawaiian woods when I was there but was surprised by how little was available, at least for a tourist that didn't know his way around. I think Kyle's suggestion would be the way to go. I wish I had known about that when I was there.

[Paul Engle]

Thanks Curt , I will add to the list of shops to check on. I know locale wood is scarce and imported is top dollar indeed !!!

[Kyle Iwamoto]

That store is an old time store. You do know that koa is also top dollar, IF they have some available.......

Be careful if you choose to deal with guys from the back of a pickup truck. Old growth monkeypod (and earpod) is also very beautiful, and some shady characters may attempt to pass that off as "too cheap to resist" koa. Koa is a hard wood, monkeypod is open grained. Koa has an iridescence, no mater how they cut it. Monkeypod does not. If you do find monkeypod, it is fun to turn, but very common, aka cheap. (should be free or mimimal) There is also Formosan koa, which is a relative, and harder to distinguish from the Hawaiian koa.

[Dave Mcintire]

I was on the big island in May and ran into a roadside shop/store that had a ton of koa for sale. The lady there was trying hard to sell me some 12 ft boards, until I told her i came on a plane. She did have some small odd pieces that I was able to send home in a flat rate box. Total cost for wood and shipping was$50-not cheap for what I got. I still have the contact info somewhere if anybody is interested. Frankly I didn,t think it was a great turning wood. Very hard, abrasive and grain tears easily and hard to remove, or maybe i just got bad pieces. It does have nice color and grain pattern. Btw the best thing on the big island was the bakery called panalulla or something on the way back from the volcano to Kona

[Mike Watts]

My inlaws live in Kauai and we go there every couple of years. There is a koa wood rocker in http://www.thekoastore.com/Locations.aspx that is absolutely beautiful but WAY out of my price range. It has been there the last two times I have visited. I cant remember his name but the man that makes the wood is very interesting and friendly and usually hangs at the Koloa store.