Koa Prices at Honolulu Woodcraft

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

Edgar

New Member Advocate
Staff member
Joined
Feb 6, 2013
Messages
6,890
Location
Alvin, TX 77511
I like Koa, but not this much. I didn't see anything I would pay half that for.

4A46E16E-B3F3-4A69-9A38-9489CACC55E5.jpeg
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

mredburn

IAP Activities Manager
Staff member
Joined
Jul 5, 2009
Messages
8,752
Location
Fort Myers FL
Was the wood not up to par or just the price per board ft is too high. $80 divided by 144 square inches is only .56 cents a square inch, or about $2.78 a 5 inch blank.
 

Edgar

New Member Advocate
Staff member
Joined
Feb 6, 2013
Messages
6,890
Location
Alvin, TX 77511
Was the wood not up to par or just the price per board ft is too high. $80 divided by 144 square inches is only .56 cents a square inch, or about $2.78 a 5 inch blank.

I wasn't impressed with their selection at all. Even the curly stuff didn't look that great to me.

Winkler doesn't have their retail lumber store any longer, but they had much better selections. Admittedly, Winkler sold their really choice curly Koa for as much as $100-$150 per bf, but smaller plain stuff like I saw at WC was in the $50 range.

Another wood store, Makoa Mills, has also gone out of business. It seems that WC might not have much competition right now.

I'm going to visit a sawmill on the other side of the island on Saturday to see what they have. Most of the Hawaii saw mills seem to be on Kauai or the big island, but there is at least that one on Oahu that sells to the public.
 

southernclay

Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2013
Messages
2,260
Location
Dawsonville, GA
Edgar I'm hoping to end up there in January of next year visiting a friend in the Army. Thanks for posting and let us know if you find any honey holes.
 

Edgar

New Member Advocate
Staff member
Joined
Feb 6, 2013
Messages
6,890
Location
Alvin, TX 77511
Edgar I'm hoping to end up there in January of next year visiting a friend in the Army. Thanks for posting and let us know if you find any honey holes.

I will definitely post a review of my visit to the Waiamaloa saw mill.

A really good place to visit is ReUse Hawaii. It's very close to the Waikiki area and they have a huge variety of salvaged woods and hardware from demolished buildings at a fraction of retail. Sometimes they have some pieces of Koa flooring on hand. I always carry a small hand saw with me so I can cut longer boards down to suitcase or LFRB size. They will cut for you, but they charge for it.

There is sometimes a vendor at the Aloha Stadium swap meet (Sat, Sun & Wed) that sells Koa off cuts. Their son is the artisan who makes the stuff they sell, but they sometimes have a few boxes of small boards you can rummage through. It's very reasonably priced & they will negotiate if you buy $50-$100 worth. They aren't always there and they are never in the same place, so you might have to walk around the stadium a time or two to look for them, but I've gotten some very nice stuff from them.

Personal contacts are always a good source. Ask your friend to check around to see if there might be some "wood hunters" among his coworkers. One of the locals that I work with gave me that nice chunk of Koa that I made that bottle stopper from that I posted recently.
 

southernclay

Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2013
Messages
2,260
Location
Dawsonville, GA
Thanks Edgar,
He made some monkey pod table a while back so i know he's got some spot close by he knows about. 11 months is a long time to wait and have to say dream about a trip for wood...I mean to see a friend. : )
 
Joined
Dec 22, 2017
Messages
3,036
Location
Wolf Creek Montana
Are you only looking for #1 grade Curly Koa or Koa in General. #1 you'll pay for, it ain't cheap. My source, which I won't share, sends me all kinds of Koa but I never know what I'm going to get until the box arrives. I've gotten some beautiful pieces and some not so beautiful pieces. But so far all my Koa has sold as finished product. If you look at my website, almost all of it shown is Koa (www.wolfcreekknives.com) and I had some photo's shown on this site. Some is good for pens and some good for larger items like Ice Cream scoops and bottle stoppers. If you're looking at just Koa in general, I've got quite a bit of it if you're willing to trade maybe we can work something out.
 

Edgar

New Member Advocate
Staff member
Joined
Feb 6, 2013
Messages
6,890
Location
Alvin, TX 77511
Are you only looking for #1 grade Curly Koa or Koa in General. #1 you'll pay for, it ain't cheap. My source, which I won't share, sends me all kinds of Koa but I never know what I'm going to get until the box arrives. I've gotten some beautiful pieces and some not so beautiful pieces. But so far all my Koa has sold as finished product. If you look at my website, almost all of it shown is Koa (www.wolfcreekknives.com) and I had some photo's shown on this site. Some is good for pens and some good for larger items like Ice Cream scoops and bottle stoppers. If you're looking at just Koa in general, I've got quite a bit of it if you're willing to trade maybe we can work something out.

Thanks, I actually have quite a bit of Koa as well. I don't have much in the way of bowl blanks, but I do have a lot of pen & stopper material and I picked up some more today. I don't buy anything at those retail prices though. I look for bargains, trades, and gifts.
 
Top Bottom