I arrived here just in time for the annual wood show. My last visit was also wood show time. The woods of Hawaii are special, but what some the artists can do with the wood is no less than magical!
There are more than 30 wood species on the Big Island alone. Ten of 14 world climate zones are here, so the variety of woods to choose from for artists is great.
The most used, and most widespread native Hawaiian wood is KOA (Acacia), the largest of all native trees, found only in Hawaii. The word koa means also brave, fearless or warrier, from the fact the ancients used this wood to make weapons and canoes.
This beautiful, richly colored, reddish wood is similar in strength and weight to black walnut. The tree grows 20-25 years before it is useful. In the wood show we saw the most gorgeous furniture, such as tables and chests, some carved, others plain and modern with an Asian flair.
As I said in an earlier Blog on the reforestration of Hakalau refuge, koa is being planted where lands have been damaged by decades of use by cattle. Koa is one a few Hawaiian plants able to germinate in grassland.
Other woods we saw in the show were Milo ( a shade tree found along the coastline), mango, sugi (known as Japanese red cedar), jacaranda (my favorite tree growing up) and monkey pod (like jacaranda, a flowering tree in the pea family).
Why, do you ask, am I doing a Blog on trees/wood? Because without the trees our feathered friends would have no place to live or food to eat and very talented artists would have no materials with which to create, and they are a part of the lush landscape of Hawaii.
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