Koa wood set

[daledut]

My daughter recently returned from her honeymoon in Hawaii. She brought back a piece of koa wood and I made this set from it. It's not curly koa but I think they will like the results.

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[Old Griz]

Very pretty Dale... I am sure they will love them... I haven't turned any Koa yet.. am working on some horsetrading for some.. LOL...
How did you like turning it and how does it finish...

 

[daledut]

I found it quite easy to turn. It is knid of an open grain wood, but not splintery like oak or hickory. This piece was quite dry but it worked easy. It did seem to heat the tools a bit more than other wood, but everything was cutting, not scraping.

I turned it to almost size and shape then sealed with CA and sanded it off with 220. Then went ahead and sanded as normal. Wiped on some natural colored oil stain (Minwax Natural oak I think). Then followed it up with my patented [] CA finish. And there you have it.

 

[tipusnr]

Called the wife over to see this. Really nice!! Got some Koa pen blanks and was going to make pens to take on our recent trip to Kauai but never finished them. Now I'm going to have to!!

Just as well as the spousal unit lost the first pen I made over there. So if you are in Hawaii and run across a cocobolo traditional slimline - have fun with it...I've already replaced it!

 

[its_virgil]

Nice job Dale. Totally skew made? I brought back some koa from my trip to hawaii last summer. I found some curly koa and some birds eye koa. It is an evergreen tree, so a softwood, but it does not have the aroma of our cedars. It is actually acacia koa, one of the acacia trees. Not the acacia mentioned in the Bible, that is another acacia. Maybe I could spare a blank of both the curly and birds eye for my "skew buddy". It is stored while we are building a new home but when we move in a month or so I'll lay out you a blank or two.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

Originally posted by daledut
<br />My daughter recently returned from her honeymoon in Hawaii. She brought back a piece of koa wood and I made this set from it. It's not curly koa but I think they will like the results.

<b>Image Insert:</b><br />

<br /> 70.73 KB

 

[daledut]

Don,
I would not want to accept such a generous offer under false pretenses. It is not totally skew made [B)] I think I may have used the skew to keep my assembly instructions from blowing away[:0]

Seriously, I used the skew to smooth the general shape, but I had one small (1 x 2.5 x 6) piece of wood that my daughter paid $30 for and I fell back on the tools I know I can use.