Acacia koa of the family Leguminosae, the legume family
Native to Hawaii, this is a very attractive wood with a variety of figures, used mainly for ornamental items and musical instruments but sometimes for furniture
my samples:
the upper two are thin planks and the lower two are veneer.
veneer --- the actual wood isn't quite as rich looking at it would seem from this picture.
plain (unfigured) veneer contributed to the site by John Chamberlain, whom I thank.
curly veneer --- this shine on this wood is real, not an artifact of the lighting or of image manipulation.
these are the pics posted on the web by the vendor who sold me this lot (see my pics directly above). The color on my pics is accurtate.
curly veneer --- this is very bland stuff compared to what one sometimes sees in curly koa
web pics --- most (possibly all) of the bright-colored pics are from the BogusColorVendor, so colors are highly suspect
log section
planks
bookmatched thinwood pair with unlikely color
a slab of "cloud koa" from the collection of Scotty Drye who took this pic in bright sunlight but who says that the wood is REALLY that beautiful. I have not otherwise heard the term "cloud koa" but Scotty obtained it from a person in Hawaii.
veneer --- the green colors are highly unlikely and this is a common misrepresentation of brown veneer for some reason having to do with digital cameras and lighting
listed as figured veneer
veneer sheets and a couple of closeups
quartersawn veneer
curly veneer, some of this was listed as quartersawn even though it looks flat cut to me
veneer listed as figured
three pics of curly Koa and one BM pair which was listed as curly but does not appear so to me although as you can see in the enlargement it has a tiny amount of curl in one area so it's probably a case of a vendor having the kind of enthusiasm that is normally reserved for used car dealers
a set of small curly planks --- the curl does not appear to be very impressive
curly turning stock and planks
scales listed as fiddleback but I would just call them curly
Two pics where both sides of the piece are shown. These are not BM pairs, as it first appears from the pics but they have such beautiful curls I wanted to show them this way.
a very clean BM pair with tight curls that show up better if you click to enlarge. The pic was contributed by John Oakes, whom I thank. The lighter section on the left is unmoistened wood.
curly veneer --- I've never seen Koa with so much green (2nd pic) or so totally lacking in any red or orange or yellow components (both pics), but that's probably just my lack of experience.
pen blanks that have been oiled and waxed
platter made from fiddleback koa
bowls
hollow form
music box from curly koa
guitar-back sets of bookmatch thin koa, somewhat curly
guitar back from what is clearly fiddleback koa (although it was not so listed)
curly koa guitar back
bookmatched figured koa with spalted sapwood, from the back of a ukulele; pic provided by Charlie Pace, whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Both levels of enlargement are present.
slab table with butterfly joints (enlargements are present)
