Place to get blanks in O’ahu?

[Rob Price]

We are working on a possible Hawaii vacation. Any tips on anyone selling wood blanks over there? It’s be cool to turn a momento from the trip.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Have you tried Google?
Winkler Woods, our local Woodcraft (expensive) and others. I've only bought wood from Winkler and Woodcraft. There's lots out there. No affiliation with Winkler. He's a good guy. If you're going to pay for true koa, be careful. There's a lot of "koa" for sale, only 1 true koa.
When is your trip?

[Ronald Campbell]

When we went to Hawaii I looked up . the clubs there and contacted them. Many of them had wood waiting for me. I had to buy another suitcase It is cheaper to pay 25 for an additional bag than to ship it home.

[George Guadiane]

We are working on a possible Hawaii vacation. Any tips on anyone selling wood blanks over there? It’s be cool to turn a momento from the trip.

If you're still in the planning stages and you're flexible, plan for hitting the Honolulu Woodturners meeting. Many/MOST have free or inexpensive local wood.
http://honoluluwoodturners.org/events.html
Contact the members and ask them for a hookup.When I go, it is ALWAYS part of my plan to go to the meeting.. GREAT bunch of people.
Tell them I said Hi and I miss them.

[George Guadiane]

Suitcases are plentiful at Good Will and/or Salvation army.
CHEAP and you probably won't use them again anyway.

[Rob Price]

Great ideas. Thanks! I’ll start emailing folks.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Yes, check us (HWT) out! I think we a great bunch of people too! If you can make a meeting that would be great.

[Rob Price]

The Honolulu woodturners turned out to be a very friendly group! I couldn’t respond to everyone who reached out to help me. I was able to meet with three members (I don’t think any of them are here at SMC) and ended up shipping back 7 blanks! I didn’t turn 7 bowls all of last year- I’ve been on furniture the past couple of years, so I really enjoyed roughing these out back to back. I also tried out my new coring system.

I tried my hand at the Hawaiian calabash form for each one within the constraints of the blank sizes, defects, etc but in general they will have round bottoms and steep/inward sloping sides. The tenons will be turned off when I finish turn them.

Back row, left to right: Opiuma (smells like diarrhea, not exaggerating), Milo (I love the dense red grain, it was a joy to turn), Monkeypod, Mango (very soft, tears out but this piece has a lot of figure). Front row: Cook Island Pine (finished turned green, waiting to dry), Lychee, Mango.

I’ll post finished pics one by one as they dry out. The Monkeypod was pretty much bone dry, the Lychee not far behind.

[Rob Price]

Posting from iPad, would only let me load one at a time.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Nice job! Be watchful with the lychee. Normally pretty cracky. Hit it with CA. I like the lychee bowl.....

[Rob Price]

Nice job! Be watchful with the lychee. Normally pretty cracky. Hit it with CA. I like the lychee bowl.....

That’s part of why it’s a smaller diameter. The blank was very dry and cracked. That’s the pith going through the middle of the bowl. It’s very cool looking, almost like marble.

Once I got it shaped the crack was just a hairline. I was actually thinking about some copper powder I have but the crack was too small to really highlight so it’s filled with sawdust and CA glue.

All are are sealed with Craft supplies tree saver- which I’m 95% sure is Elmer’s white glue with green food coloring. We will see how it goes. It’s my first time using it. The Monkeypod and Lychee are definitely getting decorative pewas as they have pith and cracks even if they don’t open up. Probably the bigger Mango piece as well. My koa pewas got here a few days ago. I need to make a base for my trim router to accept the bushing.