Currently on vacation on the island of Kaua'i.

Whilst traipsing through the many bazaars and swap meets, I came across a very beautiful wood used in furniture and serving trays.

It is called Koa and is native to the Hawaiian Islands.

Has this been used in gunstocks, and if no, then why not?

Not for your everyday run-of-the-mill rifle, but for something beautiful.
I asked a seller of this wood, and she says it works pretty easily, like walnut.



This piece isn't nearly as pretty as some others I saw in person.

-Spencer

While I have zero experience with "Koa", my first question regarding using it in a gunstock would be strength & durability.

Hard, dense, not brittle, etc.

Do you have any info on that?

Koa is considered an excellent wood for gunstocks, both from the point of density and strength.

The trick is finding a blank thick and long enough, with the right figure.

Garrett

I have used a couple of these Koa blanks and it seemed to be more like Mrytle wood than walnut. I also didn't have any follow up on this wood to see how stable it remained over the yrs. It has been my experience that mrytle wood tends to warp more and can warp say 3 or 4 yrs latter. I really like the color patterns in the Koa.

Great for knife handles.

I have a copy of "Gunstock Woods and Other Fine Timbers" by Virgil Davis, pulished by Southland Press Inc, in 1987.

Regarding Koa, Virgil says:

"A fine textured, open-grained wood with a color that ranges from gold to dark brown with an occasional dark stripe. Fiddleback figure is common, and the best figured wood is found in trees at the higher elevations. When finishing, a filler is suggested to fill the open grain. This open grain makes this wood difficult to checker.........."

Chic,

You are spot on about the Koa wood.

I fell in love with the stuff when stationed in Hawaii and thought it would make a beautiful gunstock, so asked around.

Net, the locals I asked all said it is interesting, great looking wood. The downside being it tends to eventually warp from the open pores (that are difficult to seal) and does not take checkering well.

A shame, I eventually gave up on the project.

I lived in Hawaii in the early 1950’s when my dad was stationed there. The Surf-Rider hotel on Waikiki beach used to have an antique wooden Surf Board and an outrigger canoe made from Koa wood on display in the lobby area...and the bar top in their lounge was made from a solid piece of Koa probably 20 feet long.

They also made guitars and ukuleles out of Koa wood and they looked as good, if not better, than fiddleback maple or walnut. My mom still has a bunch of stuff like salad bowels, jewelry boxes, and some candle holders made from it.

It’s beautiful wood, but I would guess that nowadays you might have to float a bank loan to buy a piece big enough to make a rifle stock.

I guess a big concern of mine would be cost.

The beauty is there no doubt, in fact I would say a few jewelery boxes I saw had about twice the fiddleback of a nice piece of exhibition claro.

I was also worried about its softness or poreousness (sp?). Unfortunately alot of woods raised in tropical climates tend to be pretty, but suck when it comes to filling pores and keeping it from warping.

I guess I will have to buy a serving tray and give up on a gunstock then.

BTW, the website I got the picture from has a bunch of pretty exotic woods, as well as some cool pics of the sawing process.

http://www.hearnehardwoods.com

-Spencer

Spencer,

For whatever its worth, my mom’s Koa wood salad bowels have been getting used and washed for over 50 years now and they still look great and haven’t cracked or warped at all. She doesn’t put them in the dish washer...but, other than that she certainly has never babied them in any way.

A few special model Martin guitars are made from this good looking wood ........

Must be stable enough for a guitar ........

I still have the first stock I made from scratch [from Koa] and it still shoots fine. That was in 1970 or so. I still have several pretty nice blanks left. How many not too sure. I do know at least one is thick enough to get a good HighPower stock and most likely a .22 or shotgun too! The wood is getting harder to find as cutting Koa is a No-No in Hawaii now I am told. Wish I knew how to work the picture thingy. The old Rem 700[ 256 Newton] is kinda pretty. Looks nice with Ebony on the tip and cap. The wood is pourous and eats up checkering tools as the wood brings tiny bits of volcanic material up into the trunk as it grows. Hell on chainsaws too. Filling and finishing is easy. I have never had any problems like the Myrtle warping as long as the wood was completely cured prior to working. Anyone want pictures let me know.

Aloha, Mark

As I understand it, Koa is now a protected tree. I think you have to find a fallen tree or branch? I have a beautiful bowl of Koa wood.

In the 70's, we used to buy koa wood to make musical instruments. It is really beautiful wood, and always seemed to me to work like walnut. I don't know about Martin, but Taylor's most expensive guitars are koa. I think the thing that stopped its use was the price due to rarity. While in Honolulu in the mid 80's, my wife and I stopped in a McDonalds in the downtown area. The counter was made from one koa plank about 3" thick, 24" wide and 20-30 ft long. The story at that time was that it would take something like $50,000 to duplicate, due to the size and rarity. The prices have only skyrocketed since then.