Hawaii Koa Wood – From Weapons to Watches

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Hawaii Koa Wood From Weapons to Watches
BY https//www.martinandmacarthur.com/
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For anyone who has been to Hawaii, you know that
Koa wood is highly revered as the wood of the
monarchs and the alii. Koa wood grows only in
Hawaii. It was the wood used by the warriors of
King Kamehameha, the Great, to create canoes and
weapons. In later years, Hawaiian used Koa for
many daily functions, carving long tree trunks in
Koa surfboards and even creating bowls, called
umeke, for serving food. Of course, some of the
finest stringed instruments like guitars and
ukulele are made by master craftsmen with Koa
wood.
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Today, Koa is growing in all the Hawaiian
Islands, from Kauai to the Big Island of Hawaii.
Contrary to popular myth, Koa is not an
endangered species and has never been put on any
endangered species list. In fact, there are over
100,000 acres of private land on the Big Island
alone where Koa is grown. And that does not
include the land owned by the State of Hawaii
where Koa grows abundantly. There are many
grades of Koa wood, reflecting how much more
beautiful some Koa wood is compared to others.
The finest and most expensive Koa wood is called
curly Koa. The curl is the rippling wavy pattern
that runs perpendicular to the natural grain of
the wood. Only 10 of all Koa wood is curly, so
this very special wood is the most sought after.
Curly Koa is priced 5-10 times higher than mere
Select Koa, which does not have ben beautiful
fluttering grain patterns.
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Select Koa is found in many lumber yards and used
for flooring and veneers by inexpensive souvenir
companies. Often the Select Koa is shipped to
far off places like the Philippines to make
earrings, bangles and other Hawaiian Accessories.
Dont be fooled, this cheap souvenir jewelry is
not made in Hawaii and is not made from the
premium Koa. Responsible companies like Martin
MacArthur have been using Koa to make fine
furniture and home furnishings for over 50 years.
In fact, Martin MacArthur buys and uses more
Koa wood than any other company in the world.
The craftsmen of Martin MacArthur hand-select
the finest curly Koa form private plantations on
the Big Island. The chairman of the company is
directly involved with the selection of every
piece of Koa wood purchased for Martin
MacArthur. The companys founder Jon Martin,
often said, The most beautiful furniture in the
world, starts with the most beautiful curly Koa.

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For over 53 years, the company has been making
fine Koa furniture for the likes of Iolani
Palace, and high end resorts like the Royal
Hawaiian Hotel, the Moana Surfrider, the Four
Seasons Hualalai, the Ritz Carlton Maui, the St.
Regis-Princeville and the Grand Hyatt
Kauai. Today, Martin MacArthur is the leading
innovator for Koa design, creating completely new
lines of Koa furniture every two years. Martin
MacArthur also has created innovative personal
accessories such as Koa watches, Koa iPhone and
iPad cases, Koa sunglasses, and Koa Eternity
Rings. It used to be that Koa was considered a
wood to simply furnish your home. Now, Koa is a
prized for personal accessories that were once
thought impossible to make with wood. Beautiful
curly Koa has a well-deserved place in Hawaiis
heritage and is now used for innovative design by
the craftsmen of Martin MacArthur.
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