harvesting and marketing young koa

Harvesting and marketing young koa

Natural stands

Plantations

Current state of the industry

Age?

Mana Rd (DHHL)24 years

Waipunalei 25 yrs (Parker) Keauhou 33 yrs(KS)

• Measured upper log diameters of all koa using laser caliper (748 trees)

• Calculated merchantable timber volumes

• Min 4 ft length, 10 inch diameter

Koa volume inventoryKeauhou 1978 stand

Predicted koa harvest volumes

Author Age, years Yield, bf/acreLoudat and Kantor Hawai'i County 1997 20 34,000Goldstein et al. PNAS 2006 40 8,500Hensley HFIA 2002 40 10,000Keauhou 2011 (current study) 33 5,930

Harvest

Diagramming logs and milling at

Jay Warner’s mill, Waipunalei

• 31 trees• 50 logs• 578 boards• 2,300 board feet• 7 units bowl stock

Wood distributed

• Commissioned woodworkers and bowl turners– Don Albrecht– Clark Allred– Richard Cunningham– Mats Fogelvik– Scott Hare– Ron Hester

• Schools (UH Mānoa, Hawaii Commuity College, Kamehameha, Hilo High, Kealakehe

Bowl stock

Bowls

Furniture

Field day

Publicity

Woodworker reactions

• Light weight and soft OR• Medium hardness• Not for carving: tearout• Lots of defect• Sapwood: plus or minus?• Light color• Little curl• Sands, turns easily• Dents easily• Finishes easily• DIFFERENT MARKET• Sells at 1/3 price OR• Sells at same price• “Became more interesting”• “Don’t sell this short”