Does anyone have any experience with using Hawaiian Koa wood for rifle or shotgun stocks. I found a supplier who is listing several Koa blanks, both rifle size and 2 piece stock size, for sale.

I've worked with Koa making furniture and it works and finishes a lot like walnut.

I am in the process of making one now. So far, it does work just like walnut. Not close to being finished or I would post a pic. Seems to have good adequate weight and strength.

Years ago, I made a few Koa stocks...yes works well, but very open pored if I remember right.

The stocks I made seemed to be pretty sensitive to ambient humidity. One time the buttplate would be even with the wood, next, wood swelled way over the plate, then way under

I'll be curious to hear if the same scenario is noticed.

Koa is in the acaccia family and like some other members it can have some very fine figure .Desert ironwood, mesquite ,locust are some other members. Never worked it though.

Lived in Hawaii for 3 years. The standard joke about Koa, was that the Hawaiins just didn't know how to spell Oak.

Barstooler

I used it in some small wood projects. I wouldn't use it in a stock. It did seem to swell with damp weather.

May I say.....Koa is a poor substitue for good walnut stock wood. So why bother?

Off and on, Koa has been flogged (sold) as a gun stock wood for over 50 years that I know of. I have read maybe two reports from people in that time who were satisfied with it specifically because of its light weight. But I have never met an owner or a stock maker who actually liked it as a working gunstock.

There may be some, but my fate has never yet included meeting one of them.

It is air dried in Hawaii and then shipped to mainland US. It is still moist, even if drying for 10 years there. Either finish it in a dehumidifier kiln or let it sit for a few years where you are at indoors. I was told 2-3 years and inch of thickness by the Hawaiian I bought mine from.

obviously not mine ... DoanTrevor

I'm not thinking thats a hunting riflr!!!

Nice looking wood. I hope they reinforced the wrist somehow, that thing looks ready to snap at the slightest provocation...

Got curious when I saw the post. Entirely different beast, for the most part, but years back got an accoustic guitar, koa back and sides, peghead, sitka spruce soundboard, fingerboard was cocobolo, I think.. Maybe bubinga. Can,t remember at the moment. Beautiful guitar, very nice tone, needed a few years after I got it to settle in and start to get it,s voice.
Bad part part was tryna keep it in tune..
Had a bunch of other guitars at the time, most of em, you,d tune as neccessary, this one, half the time, you might get half an hour, 45 minutes without having to tune it again.
Seemed like that one was pretty unstable, always thought it to be a bit of a combo deal, a too new guitar that had,nt had time to settle, seemed like the koa "moved" a lot.
Could be wrong, idle speculation, pure conjecture, but I can,t help thinking that unless that koa had quite a few years to dry, it,s gonna shift around a lot more than one would like. Which would make bedding problematic. Or neccessitate larger than normal gaps between metal and wood.
Again, no actual experience using koa wood for gun stocks on my part.

But by God is it pretty! Would,nt want to take it out in the rain, could make a real nice looking gun with that stuff..
Ah hell, build it. Go with iron sights, don,t bother with a scope. If it shoots a little wild from time to time, you can always say yer eyes ain,t what they used to be...

The blanks I found for sale run $500 - 600. You can get a really nice piece of walnut for that. Think I'll leave the KOA for furnitur making.

BTW, Taylor Swift use a KOA guitar.

I have done quite a few Koa stocks and they seem to be ok so far. I still have the very first one I ever did, a Rem 700 in 256 Newton that still shoots same POA as it did 35 years ago--even after moving from Hawaii to Oregon. The trick, if there is one, is to let it dry to about 10%. Even then it is hard to checker and will clog the bits. It is beautiful colored wood and pretty light. I use Ebony for the tips and caps and it finishes well. I don`t know how to post pictures or I would. To me the wood is worthwhile but for a big magnum? I would still use solid Walnut. I still have several nice koa blanks as well as one Ohia Lehua which is harder than a River Street whores heart on a rainy monday morning.
One thing! If you have ANY allergies? Use a particle mask when working the Koa.

Aloha, Mark