Unbelievable Hawaiian Curly Koa!!! I just finished two nets out of it.

[Greg Madrigal]

This wood is a dream to work with! You must see it to appreciate the amazing light refraction going on with this wood. People who use it swear it is the best species in the world for this feature; Hence, its out-of-this-world-price. After drooling over the ease of milling of this wood, I looked it up and found out that it's native only to the Hawaiian island chain and is scarce on all but the big isle. Furthermore, the best curl and color only comes from the trees growing between 3K & 6K feet! The Hawaiian Gov. has banned all trees from being cut unless they are deadfall. This tree was taken decades ago and my client had it stashed.

The nets are named "Alawaii" and "Aloha." Both were commissioned by a winter resident of Hawaii, and an Alaskan fly fishing guide in the Bristol Bay area during the summer. "Alawaii" is for him and "Aloha" is for his bride. The client supplied the highly curly Koa handles which he cut from a slab he had been saving for years. Curly Koa like this is becoming exceedingly rare, and very expensive. He was saving this for a very special occasion. Alawaii's hoop is Wenge, Mahogany and Teak. The net number and signature are inlaid Chrysocolla, a stone not unlike turquoise. You might notice I have started putting Brass, Copper, and Aluminum ferrules in the handle hole where the lanyard attaches to.

The Magnetic Net Release was custom made with a large rare earth magnet in curly Koa. That ensures a nice secure bond whilst running from grizzly bears! :lol:


If you want to view the video, it goes through many steps of the build process, otherwise, finished pics follow.


http://youtu.be/PvnM39ouxdM

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[Hometown]

simply put awsome

[5150fishn]

Those nets are incredible. That wood is amazing! Very nice work you do on your custom nets!

[DarkShadow]

All i know is that when they find my body that was mauled by a grizzly, they'll find it with me clutching the net.

You do superb work. You're gonna make Brodin go out of business.

You make my plane I made in wood class in 8th grade look like crap.

http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/6546/dsc0288dd.jpg

[bassfishing24/7]

Very nice job!! Definetly looks like a collectors item!!

[DockRat]

That is great wood. Very nice net.


Koa on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FROM-BIG-ISLAND-Hawaiian-Red-Curly-Koa-Wood-Book-Matched-Lumber-Ukulele-K1363-/221023292646?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item337603cce6


Acacia Koa
Koa is the largest endemic tree in Hawai‘i–the species exists naturally nowhere else in the world. It is the fastest growing of Hawaii’s valuable hardwoods. It can grow as much as an inch in diameter per year, reaching 100 feet in height, attaining a trunk diameter of 5 feet or more. It was historically the material of choice for carved ocean-going canoes. Koa wood is the most prized cabinet and furniture wood in Hawai‘i. Colors range from light brown to deep red/brown hues. Highly figured koa is sought after for use in fine furniture, musical instruments, crafts, gunstocks, and knife handles. Koa has weight and strength properties similar to black walnut. It is a moderately heavy wood (specific gravity .55). It is stable, works well, and takes an exceptionally rich, deeply reflective glow when finished with oils and modern varnish or laquer.

[DockRat]

Seems to be a lot of pieces on ebay.
Good for gun grips too.

[Which Way Out]

Made me think of Tiger Woods....

Nice work once again Greg. Take care
WWO

[PONTOON]

Greg, that needs to go in a glass case and never used...........Beautiful!:Cool:

[murrieta angler]

Hello Greg,
Very nice looking piece of art, I can't see it being used to hold fish...:Big Grin:
I noticed that it kind of looks like anagre curly, by no means am I a wood guy, it's just that I am working on some doors with that veneer and they look similar.
Again, nice work,
Robert
<><

[troutdog]

Greg, that needs to go in a glass case and never used...........Beautiful!:Cool:

I was thinking the same thing....something to be passed on for generations.

Awesome work Greg.


TD

[Greg Madrigal]

Thanks all! It will be used on some HEFTY Alaskan "Leopard Rainbows" which my client describes as " arm size!" Witth any luck, I may be seeing it in action come this August!

[Hometown]

Greg put that master piece to work in August:Big Grin::Big Grin::Big Grin::Big Grin::Big Grin:

[gavin310]

wow... beautiful

[Ultralight]

Beautiful work Greg. Curly Koa has always been my favorite wood and I never thought I'd see you craft one in Koa. This is a pleasurable surprise.

This brings back memory because about 20 years ago, then the Koa was still more accessible, I dealt with the very high end guitars and Koa was my favorite wood. I ended up 'hunting' for Koa and we pick out some incredible sets that were probably the 1% of the mastergrade woods. I still have a number of sets, including one from a particular tree the likes of which I have never seen in Koa. Occasionally in the guitar world, there will be one tree that is just so superb that people would talk about sets from that tree. There was a particular quilted mahogany tree for example that become so well known that one set for a guitar ran over $1K! Anyways, I digress. The flame in koa is just gorgeous. Unfortunately I think guitar sets are about 0.20 to 0.25 inches thick and I don't think you can use those for the solid handles unless you use laminate.

Again, beautiful work and it brings me joy to see one in Koa!

UL

[fishntime]

Holy smokes I never knew a net could be so fancy. Oh you fancy huh?

[See Chris Fish]

WOW!!!
That's awesome!!