rare Hawaiian woods

My sculpture and design studios are on Hawaii Island at 2,000 feet (600 meters) in a breezy forest of tall Ohia and Eucalyptus trees. These trees protect my studio and provide wood materials. I have a sawmill on the property where I make raw wood products for sculptures, buildings, bowls, and more. Sometimes, I offer extra wood to others.

Several times a year, I carefully and legally collect unique, rare Hawaiian wood logs like Koa, Mango, Monkeypod, Ohia, Eucalyptus, Milo, Kou, Kiawe, and Sandalwood from my land or nearby areas. I only cut dead, diseased, insect-damaged, windfallen, or dangerous trees using chainsaws and a logging truck. I work to minimize damage to the ground and forest. For every tree I remove, I plant 20 native seedlings.

I run a mobile sawmill that cuts logs into boards from 1 inch to 4 inches thick. Smaller logs are cut for carving blocks. The wood air dries for about one year per inch of thickness, reaching 15-18% moisture content. Then, I kiln dry it for 3-6 months to about 10% moisture. After drying, I grade the wood using the Hawaiian Koa system from 1A (best) to 5A (highest curl), which I also apply to other wood types. This grading helps you know exactly what you get.

I keep a small stock of wood available for woodworkers, turners, or sculptors. Stock changes often, so please contact me for current species, grades, amounts, and shipping. We ship worldwide.

Aloha,
Owen

High-Grade Wood

The few wood types I provide come in different quality levels. I mostly use quartersawn cuts to best show the wood's grain. Up to 80% of logs are plain wood. Figured wood is rare and very valuable. Its worth grows quickly the more figure present. High grades can cost ten times or more per Board Foot than lower grades.

Lumber

One of the best parts of milling wood is opening a log to see what's inside. I mill a few logs on some weekends each month. I work slowly and keep my volume low. I don't make much, but what I do produce is of excellent quality.

Heirloom Bowl Blanks and Pen Stock

I cut my blanks from parts of the tree that are difficult to run through the sawmill or too small to be good for lumber. This means I offer crotch, knot, split, insect gallery, stump and other odd yet beautiful blanks for the advanced turners and woodworkers. Turning blank sizes range from 6” to 24” diameter or larger. Pen and small stock sizes are 1”x1”x6-8”. Custom sizes can be arranged by request.