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Hawaiian Koa wood characteristics?

3110 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by abie, 4 mo ago

jayman7

Discussion Starter · Mar 15, 2011 (Edited by Moderator)

I wanted to make some pens out of Hawaiian koa wood, so I bought a few blanks off ebay. I've never worked with Koa before, but the blanks seemed unusually lightweight. I read online that it's a medium density wood similar to walnut, but I can tell very easily that they are not the same weight. Here's a picture of the blanks:

Brown Rectangle Wood Book Tints and shades

So do you guys think this is really Koa?

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richgreer

· #3 · Mar 15, 2011

I just walked down to the shop and picked up a piece of Koa and a piece of Walnut of about the same size. I would say, based just on feel - I did not weight them, that the Koa is just a little bit lighter than the Walnut.

I've used some Koa to make small boxes, but I have never turned it. I found it very easy to work with.