Hawaii Question

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wdcav1952

wdcav1952

Activities Manager Emeritus
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Mar 18, 2004
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Montgomery, Pennsylvania, USA.
As some of you are aware, my daughter is having some pretty severe marital problems. She is in the Navy stationed in Hawaii, specifically the island of Oahu. I am flying out early tomorrow morning to help her move and try to insure her safety. I will be in the Honolulu area for about two weeks.

First and foremost is to help her get resettled. I ask for your prayers and positive thoughts as we work through this.

However, part of the time she will be at work, and I will have some down time. I cannot travel between islands, but would like to collect some local wood to bring back with me. Anyone have any suggestions for where to buy wood on the island of Oahu?

Thank you in advance,
 
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There's always Koa and Banksia pods, but I think if I had to chase something it would be items to put in top of bottle stoppers or if very small for closed end pen doo-dads. Coins, trinkets, beads, anything that can be inserted or cast that are indigenous to Hawaii. Especially if they're handmade and hard to get a hold of.

From a selling standpoint, the idea of being able to say "I collected these while in Hawaii" may go farther than buying wood that's not that hard to get a hold of over the web.
 
First, here's hoping everything works out OK..

Second, my main contact for wood in Hawaii is, unfortunately, on the "Big Island", rather than Oahu, so that's probably not gonna work for you. Too bad, because I've gotten some amazing stuff from him...

While you're there, if you do find a source on Oahu, look for insanely curly koa, curly mango, sugi, milo, kou roots, signature wood (especially spalted), and one of my favorites is "wili-wili", which is a very light wood (like balsa) with a look like old-fashioned vanilla bean ice cream (creamy white with little black speckles). You have to put a hard CA or epoxy finish on it to keep from gouging it, but it makes for a much lighter and easy to handle pen, which sometimes ain't easy when you're making big grandes or cigars. Wili-wili was one of the original surfboard woods, and was permitted to only Hawaiian royalty in the "old" days. Makes a beautiful pen and a great conversation piece.
 
I just got back from Hawaii in Honolulu I tried to find wood and my best success was the swap meet. I think Arron who lives there has all the scrap locked up. I did visit his shop which was well worth the visit. The swap meet runs Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday. Ukulele builders are the best source but I couldn't find any that were not already doing something with there scraps. I ended up buying some of Arron's blanks.
Swap meet is at the sports arena, Arron's shop is in downtown Waikiki
 
wdcav1952 said:
As some of you are aware, my daughter is having some pretty severe marital problems. She is in the Navy stationed in Hawaii, specifically the island of Oahu. I am flying out early tomorrow morning to help her move and try to insure her safety. I will be in the Honolulu area for about two weeks.

First and foremost is to help her get resettled. I ask for your prayers and positive thoughts as we work through this.

However, part of the time she will be at work, and I will have some down time. I cannot travel between islands, but would like to collect some local wood to bring back with me. Anyone have any suggestions for where to buy wood on the island of Oahu?

Thank you in advance,
Click to expand...


Cav,
Wishing your daughter all the best and good things in these times of trial... it's good that she has a dad that can be her rock and help her through.

I'm sure you may have already contacted Jimmy at WoodPenPro, I like some of his Pacifica pen kits... and he has some nice blanks on his site.. he's in Honolulu and may have some sources or leads for you.

Here's link to his site in case you don't have it. http://www.woodpenpro.com/homepage.html
 
Well, Cav.

By now you are "winging your way" to Hawaii. When you get a chance to see the IAP, I wanted to make sure you know Dawn and I are thinking about you.

Be sane, stay calm -- all the things I would wish I had been, after the fact!!

Good luck, my friend!

Tell Jessica she does NOT have to find a LIFETIME of disasters all before she hits THIRTY!!!
 
William, good luck with your daughter, hope all goes well and that she is safe.
Now, when I was there I was at the Woodcraft store, they had a bin of Koa in the store and I picked up some nice pieces that had curly areas. The owner of the store showed me his stash of curly Koa (CK) in a back building and what I saw made me drool - but he wouldn't sell me anything - only if I would buy a whole pallet full for several thousand $$. Wendy and I drove around and stopped at some places that where selling CK furniture etc and here I got some pieces scrap for a few bucks. I also found a bowl turner at the north shore and he gave me some freebies.So, there are ways to get wood on Oahu.
Good Luck!!
 
William,

I hope you can help your daughter sort her problems. I will be praying for you guys too.

Most of the best figured koa I've seen are cut-offs so I agree on most of the posts about it. Highly figured Koa is very expensive (even or should I say, especially in Hawaii). I was told that buying online (like eBay) may actually be cheaper. Good luck though and hope you find the mother lode.
 
Best of luck with your daughter, and with finding some wood too. I always hate hearing about active duty troops having marital problems, I have seen military life destroy many otherwise good, solid relationships.
Even if the guy is a total loser with no chance of not imploding regardless of situation, and richly deserves to die slowly and painfully to avoid wasting oxygen, you gotta remember, anything that happens with her family is noticed and reflects on her career (no matter how unfair this is) Keep your cool, try not to make too much noise, and be the good family influence to counterbalance his bad one. Of course, protect your most precious possession, your daughter at all costs and with whatever deadly force is necessary, but attempt to minimize the sound effects and hide the body very carefully.

I have plans for a very effective, easy to improvise silencer if you need it.
 
walk along the beach - it will relax ya and help put things in prospective

I just did that myself here in hawaii - and even one of the IAP members was there sellling pens.


Bradbn4 - not quite in Colorado right now
 
Hope that your daughter weathers this without too much difficulty. You're a good Dad to go help her out. Keep both of you safe and out of harm's way. My thoughts are with you both.
 
Hawaii Wood

I get most of my koa at Makoa Mill but Winkler also has a place over by the airport somewhere... I need to get out more, work work work...Go Navy. Both have websites for more info. Feel free to stop in and see me when in town.
Jimmy
WOODPENPRO.COM
 
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