Craig Mason Koa & Blackwood Lidded Hollow Form 11″H x 4″D $440

Description

Craig Mason Koa & Blackwood Lidded Hollow Form 11″H x 4″D $440

About the Artist

Craig Mason is a Hawai‘i Woodturner who learned to love forests, trees and working with wood at an early age. Woodturning was introduced to him when he was a teenager in woodshop class.  He put all his prior interests on hold for several decades while he finished school. Craig Mason also served in the United States Navy, started a private dental practice, and raised a family. From years working with trees salvaged from the waste stream, he developed skills in woodturning and carving . The Hawaiian calabash, with its flowing curves, is his favorite form to carve.

Koa

Uses
Ancient Hawaiians were using the koa trunks to build waʻa (dugout outrigger canoes) and papa heʻe nalu (surfboards).  The reddish wood is very similar in strength and weight to that of Black Walnut (Juglans nigra). Because of its specific gravity of 0.55, Koa is sought for use in wood carving and furniture. Koa is also a tonewood. It is often used in the construction of ukuleles, acoustic guitars, and Weissenborn-style Hawaiian steel guitars.

Conservation
The koa population has suffered from grazing and logging.  The largest koa grow in wet forest areas. Many of those have been logged out, though. Koa now comes largely from dead or dying trees or farms on private lands. Although formerly used for outrigger canoes, there are few koa remaining, large and straight enough to do so today. In areas where cattle are present, the koa regeneration is almost completely suppressed. However, if the cattle are removed, koa are among the few native Hawaiian plants able to germinate in grassland. It can be instrumental in restoring native forest.

The dimensions listed in the ‘additional information’ tab includes packing for shipment.