What's your favorite Hawaiian wood to turn?

[David B Thornton]

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

[Scott Hackler]

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.

[Brian Brown]

Curly Koa, hands down. Because of the look, not because it is easy to turn.

[John Grace]

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

[Wally Dickerman]

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

[Bob Dupras]

Curly Koa #1, and Spalted Mango #2

[robert baccus]

All of the above for sure. How do we contact your cousin or find him on E-bay?

[Thomas Canfield]

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.

[Mike Tilley]

All the above sounds good! What is his name on eBay?

[David B Thornton]

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

[Tim Boger]

Dave ... I think it's about time you wake up and realize this is all a dream.

Tim

[Kyle Iwamoto]

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.