This week we are starting a weekly wood blog giving information about rare and unusual woods.  Some of these woods are used by Higdon Writing Instruments for making our custom writing instruments and others are ones that we think are interesting and worth highlighting.  This week I was able to get my hands on some beautiful musical grade Curly Koa.  Hence, I have chosen to feature Curly Koa in our first weekly wood blog. 

Koa or Acacia koa is native to the islands of Hawaii and means “warrior” in Hawaiian.  Not only is it native to Hawaii but it is the only place in the world in which it grows.  

It is one of the tallest and fastest growing trees in Hawaii reaching heights of over 100’.   It’s harvesting for timber is, however, controlled making it an increasingly rare wood.  Koa grows in the elevations of 300-7,500 feet and requires an annual rainfall of between 30 and 200 inches of rainfall a year.  It is also highly adaptable to growing in young volcanic soils.

The historic uses of Koa to the islands of Hawaii are many.   They were a frequent choice of wood for making dug out canoes for both the tree’s large trunk size and the woods resistance to salt water.  It was also used frequently for canoe paddles, spears, and calabashes ( large bowls for serving food).  Additionally some of the first known surfboards were built from Koa.  As surfing originated in Hawaii and Polynesia it may be possible to say the first surfboard was made from Koa but it almost certainly would have been one of the first used.

There are also a number of modern uses for Koa and in particular Curly Koa.  Curly Koa is an outstandingly beautiful wood.  Its dark grain and highly reflective curly figure make it one of the most sought after ornamental woods in the world.  Koa is a tonewood which makes it a favorite for luthiers and particularly for ukuleles and guitars.  Furniture makers also prize this wood. 

For those of you interested in rare and unusual wood that are not familiar with the term “curly” I will explain what the term means.  The term curly refers to the undulation in the grain of the wood (or figure) which you can see examples of curly figure here.  This figure or grain is sometimes called fiddleback and the reflective quality is also known as chatoyance or chatoyancy.  The term chatoyancy comes from the French oeil de chat meaning “cat’s eye” and is often used to describe the reflective nature of stones like Tiger’s Eye.  To my knowledge no one has ever been able to determine exactly what causes some trees to generate curly grained wood while others do not.  Some trees are much more likely to produce curl than others. 

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and as always, Sign With Style!