Who likes Koa wood?

I just saw this thread started in 2004 but I can't help but add my 2 cents worth.

The hardness of Koa is usually similar to western maple. You can dent the surface with your fingernail.

The only place I have used to have Koa stabilized is K&G. The colors stay vivid, the wood takes the stabilizing agent well and the figure becomes more pronounced. I have sent them pieces as thin as 1/4 inch with no movement when stabilized. Not positive but I believe Chuck from Alpha uses K&G as well.

If you stop sanding at anything under 1000 grit with Koa you are not seeing it's full potential. Think of it like polishing a gemstone because that is what it can look like.

Ringed Gidgee is in the Acacia family so the grain and figure can look similar to Koa. It grows slowly in desert areas of Australia so the wood is hard and dense like desert ironwood.
 
Koa might be from the same family as Gidgee and they can look almost identical but as far as hardness goes it would be like comparing walnut to ironwood. Gidgee doesn't grow in swamps but out in the dry hot interia of Australia, anything that gets baked in the desert all its life will be hard. It does grow in areas we call flood plain country and this could be why you thought it grows in swampy plases, but flood plains may only get inundated once every three or four years if that. With all the rain Australia has had this year I would expect the Gidgee trees will have a good growth spert. Gidgee smells like boiled cabbage when it gets rained on and the Aboriginies used it for war clubs because it is so hard and heavy but it doesn't like fire unlike most of the Australian bush. I also have some good Tasmanian black wood that looks very similar to the Koa I have seen and is probably a touch harder than the Koa. It's all nice stuff and don't even worry about stabilized it if you seal it properly.
 
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