War canoe of acacia koa, or maybe Quercus virginiana, depending upon one's constitution...

As a yute I fell in with a bad crowd, surfers. I rode the wild waves of the Atlantic on an inflatable raft I bought at a seaside resort, but I read the magazines about real waves and real surfboards. History was presented on those pages along with exotic names and places, such as Duke Kahanamoku who rode a 16' board made of koa wood in the perfect curls forming off of Waikiki beach on Oahu. Exotic, far away, but fascinating to someone who loved being in the ocean.

Years later I traveled to Hawaii, the big island. I snorkeled in Makaiwa bay, body surfed dangerous waves on a black sand beach near Hawi, at the end of the Akoni Pule highway, not far from the King Kamehameha statue that was lost, but now is found.

I drove as many of the roads as I could on the Big Island, on a quest to buy some koa. Tried every shop I saw in every town I drove through, but the answer was always the same - no koa (for haoles), although that last part was unstated.

That was in 1990, however, back in 1974 I obtained employment at a mainframe computer manufacturer in Sunnyvale. I worked with a great bunch of people, many of whom I have kept in touch with over the decades. One bought a bowl from me last July, we talked,  and I asked about another guy who now lives on the Big Island (that story is awesome, but only so many words fit here). I told him I wanted some koa, and he knew a guy who might be able to obtain some. More communications, months pass, then yesterday the koa showed up.

MamaM asked about what prompted my purchase of that koa and this post is some of the back story. Those of you who have been paying attention know that I am cheap. Real cheap. I am willing to gas up my saw and drive a county or two away to saw some free wood, but the thought of paying for a chunk large enough to make a bowl hurts me. All the while I was negotiating with my koa benefactor he never once mentioned price. Well, even a cursory search for curly koa wood brings up prices that are painful. Fifty dollars a board foot is not unknown. But what do you know - dude sent me eight board feet free, gratis, didn't even ask to be reimbursed for shipping from Kurtistown. Is this a great country or what? Here is a picture of the kind of work my koa guy does:

So that is the story of how some beautiful koa arrived here in my snowy realm. It truly is a wonderful world.

The best ukuleles are made of koa.

I have no idea if the coast is clear...

...but it is snowing here.

I don't much care for snow, or winter, for that matter. I have work to do and this kind of weather makes me want to stay inside. It will be precipitating for the next 24 hours - not good, I have somewhere to be on Sunday, and from what I have seen in previous winters, the snow plow is broken.

However, I did get a nice surprise this afternoon - two boxes showed up on my front porch - inside were two big blocks of koa wood from Kurtistown on the Big Island of Hawaii. Talk about a wonderful slice of the tropics right here in the snowy Southeast. 

The wood is highly figured and the ends are treated to prevent cracks from forming, which is good as it might be a while until I can rough turn it. In the past I have used wood from local trees almost exclusively, including such local exotics as dogwood, crape myrtle, deodar cedar, golden rain tree, apple, Bradford pear, persimmon, southern sugar maple, Atlantic white cypress, plum, red mulberry and so on, but this will be the first koa I have ever worked with. So look for a koa bowl or two on this page sometime in the future - they will be stunning.

This evening's musical selection seemed  appropriate both for the season and the weather: for all you snowflakes out there...