Koa Cheeseboard

Lud · January 28, 2012, 09:26:01 AM

Was down to Kiem's in Charm, Ohio for the annual sale and the wife and I found a couple of little boards of Koa at a reasonable price. Roughcut when I got it, I only sanded a bit and then started scraping as I understand scraping is better for tricky grain. Final sanded with 400 and 600 and then mineral oil and beeswax. The bun feet are rosewood that I turned and CA'd to the bottom. We all get these little scrapes of pretty grain off the saw and it pretty easy to make.

here's the bottom

and straight down, the grain reminds me of a volcano, and..., since this wood come from Hawaii, that's reasonably cool........

hackberry jake · January 28, 2012, 10:19:57 AM

That looks like some crazy grain!

shelbycharger400 · January 28, 2012, 11:32:06 AM

that is nice, i have to remember to scrape method. i used a bench plane once on wild grain, it protested and tore out ... and i was workin my Behind off.

Axe Handle Hound · January 28, 2012, 02:33:25 PM

Man that is some beautiful grain.

WDH · January 28, 2012, 10:00:30 PM

Beautiful!

isawlogs · January 28, 2012, 10:08:29 PM

That is really nice grain. !!!

Burlkraft · January 29, 2012, 12:10:00 PM

Aaaaawesome!!! 8) 8) 8)

Den Socling · January 29, 2012, 02:25:38 PM

Koa doesn't grow anywhere on earth except a few spots in Hawaii. Cutting a live tree was rarely permitted. Now, if I'm not mistaken, you are only allowed to cut trees and limbs off the ground. If you got some for a decent price, you are very lucky!

Ironwood · January 29, 2012, 06:45:50 PM

I have a few things made from Koa here. I was stationed on Oahu for a year, I should have put my 8000 lbs shipping alotment in Koa. One of my missed opportunites as a young adult. :

Great wood, it is neat in the jungle, flaky layered papery "bark", it is soft like 100 layers of tissue paper to protect the tree. Never seen anything like before or since. I use to boar hunt up in the jungle with the locals.

Ironwood

Ianab · January 30, 2012, 03:13:48 PM

Tasmanian Blackwood is a very similar species (closely related) and can show the same wild grain and colour.

It's commercially grown and harvested in Aussie and other countries, so is much easier to obtain. Worth looking out for if you like that sort of piece.

Ian

Lud · January 31, 2012, 06:43:05 AM

Den,Ianab, Ironwood, Burlcraft,

Riggs · January 31, 2012, 07:11:23 AM

Beautiful

Lud · January 31, 2012, 07:40:01 AM

Fingers are'nt awake, I guess , this is my third try to reply...........

Kiems is supposedly the largest importer / exporter of exotic woods east of the Mississippi and their display room is huge. It is a treat to see and feel planks of ebony, rosewood, purpleheart, etc. and imagine all the cool stuff you could build if you could afford it! They have huge slabs costing thousands and boxes of turning blanks and pen blanks and stubs from veneer logs. Amazing to visit. You never know what you'll find. So no shock to me that some Koa showed up.

The rest of the store is amazing as well as almost all employees are Amish and the store supports the extensive furniture and woodcraft community. Holmes county is at the center of Ohio's Amish tourism business. Lots to see if you ever get in the area. 8)

Dodgy Loner · February 01, 2012, 10:31:19 AM

That's incredible. What a special piece of wood

I'd be afraid to take a knife to it! :D

Lud · February 02, 2012, 07:10:29 AM

Well,...... duh.....Dodgy.........It only looks like that because I took a knife to it!

Actually it was the scraper which I'm trying to to gain a greater understanding of. I mean , there seems to be a duration of sharpness which only lasts so long. Then you reburnish or go back to the flat file and start over getting the burr or the edge just so. You sharpen for the lathe and that edge goes miles, the scraper's edge life seems to be measured in feet?

I was fortunate to see the potential grain in the roughcut piece of Koa. Avoided tearout using the scraper , realized it would be tough to grab without a little lift so the bun feet out of rosewood resulted in a nice little piece and a happy wife. It's all good. Appreciate the comment. ;D

Den Socling · February 02, 2012, 03:25:33 PM

Is that Kiem or Keim? I've dried slabs for an Amish man from Keim's. When "Amish" was mentioned, I started wondering.

tyb525 · February 02, 2012, 08:31:07 PM

Lud, I've heard a scraper's edge only lasts about 10-15 minutes. It doesn't last long because it is such a fine edge.

Ironwood · February 02, 2012, 08:55:17 PM

Den,

Probably the same folks. They deal alot with the Amish, if they arent actually Amish or at least "were" Amish. I always see them at an Amish event every Febuary giving their pitch. Looks lke a pretty nice outfit.

Ironwood

Lud · February 03, 2012, 08:47:05 AM

My wife says it's KEIMs.

(whisper...whisper) My buddy owns a local lumber yard and I happened to mention Keims and he went off!! Turns out the non-Amish owner of Keims has no employees even tho 300 Amish work there. They're all volunteers. The owner writes a check to the Amish church and the church "shares" out an appropriate amount to each volunteer depending on the hours they had "volunteered. Beats the state income tax, FICA, the church has some kind of insurance package so he avoids that too. My buddy was steaming on unfair business practice, level playing field , etc. Been going on for years.

Figure out an angle and run with it, eh?