Bringing Home Some KOA

[Dominic Carpenter]

Well I've been hanging out hear in Hawaii for the family vacation and ran across a small batch of KOA that I bought and bringing home. Only have a few board feet, beautiful with some curly. 18"-24" lengths so the project (s) will be small.

[Larry Temins]

Dominic,

I just returned home from 3 weeks Hawaii. I saw some really beautiful work done in KOA on the different islands. I met a cabinetmaker in Hannapepe Kauai who offered to sell me some KOA but unfortunately there is no way I could have brought boards into Canada without proper certification, etc. When you leave the islands will you have a problem with US Agriculture Inspection?
Post some photos of your KOA projects.

Larry

[jared herbert]

I have had the same question about bringing back some koa or other woods from Maui. We have been there the last couple of years. I met a fellow there, Dennis Holzer who makes what I would describe as large, free form sculptures , tree trunk size, of birds, fish, whales, etc. They are high end pieces. Anyway he has been sending me pieces of some very curly koa and some other oddball woods. I make pens from it and then send the pens back to him and he sells them. He has been sending pieces of wood by USPS. He said the last time that he found out that it is technically not legal to do that but sent it anyway and has had no trouble. Another friend was on Maui and bought some really nice koa, paid $80/bdft and the seller, who apparently has an exotic lumber business in Kahalui sent it to the states by UPS. I would like to know how I would be treated if I tried to bring some back in my suitcase. I would suspect there might be a problem with the ag inspection at the airport. Dennis seemed to think that if it was dry and had no bark on, the wood is ok to carry. I would like to find out for sure, as we are going back next winter and want to bring a little back. Any info would be good. Jared

[Kevin Bourque]

My understanding is that it's okay to use Koa that died naturally, but how you prove that to The Man is another matter altogether.

[Bill Wyko]

Did you happen to go horse back riding & see the giant burls on the trees? Forget the scenery, someone get me a chainsaw. LOL.

[alex grams]

I've had two pieces of koa and one of mango shipped back, and 2 pieces in my carry on. I've never had a problem with agriculture or inspection. This was back in 08, 9 and 10. Never had any problems. I was told the red flag that would get attention was if you had bark on the wood, hence the possibility of bugs going to/from the islands, which was a major concern of theirs.

[Jaromir Svoboda]

I saw some at local lumber yard few months back. Nice wood but expensive.

[Lee Schierer]

I brought home a small piece in my suitcase when we visited Hawaii in 2008. The place I bought it ships his furniture to the mainland all the time. Here's some of his work. IMG_3292.jpg

[Dominic Carpenter]

I thought about the inspection after I bought it too. It is all dried and planned to 3/4". So I'm hoping not to have a problem. Bought a separate bag to ship it home. There is about 13 board feet. Not a lot, I can't imagine how I would get more home. I've seen some beautiful craftsmanship here both machine work and carvings. I told my wife, everyone else come back with tee shirts and pineapples and I come back with wood. Plane leaves at 7:35 Hawaii time, I post an update from the gate.

[Bob Reda]

Just get in touch with the hotel conseirge. they can get it shipped fedex. They do that with pineapples all the time.

Bob

[Dominic Carpenter]

No problems. Everything went through.

[Bernie Kopfer]

I was on Maui in Jan this year and before purchasing some KOA I called the fed AG dept and was told there was no problem if the wood was dry. I had the wood planed and debarked and put several large pieces in my suitcase. Told the airport people when i arrived about what i had and went to the outgoing AG inspection line, told them also that I had raw wood and they put the suitcase thru the X-ray and never said a word to me. They acted bored and indifferent. No problem at all.