sticker shock

[rhett]

I was getting ready to make my wife's annual christmas gift when I got an uninvited change of plans. The original idea was to use the wood we were most surrounded by in St. Lucia and a few choice landscape photos to make a rather large triptic to hang in our bedroom. Here is the issue, the cheapest I have found koa is $40 per bdf and that is the so called plain stuff. The nicer figured wood is upwards of $100 per bdf!
Koa is apparently the diamond of wood, I need the cubic zirconia, any suggestions. Not that she's not worth the real thing, but I need at least 10 bdf, and I'm not spending a grand on picture frames.

 

[Tarhead]

I didn't think Koa grew outside of Hawaii:eusa_thin ??? Mahogany maybe cheaper and it does grow in the Carribean.

 

[rhett]

While true koa (acacia koa) does only grow in hawaii, the wood I truely need is acacia albizia, it's actually a shrub. Since both are from the same family they share similar characteristics, high luster and tend to be curly. Lots of st lucian furniture is made of the latter, but I don't think they export it. I did look at some sappelle mahogany, but the grain is to large.

 

[woodguy1975]

Might want to look into veneering the piece instead of solid wood. That will get your price down to a more reasonable number, but may require you to make some design changes.

Good Luck,

John

 

[jeff...]

eBay: Koa Lumber 28 inches x 7 inches x 3/4 inches (item 320055391038 end time Dec-03-06 14:44:21 PST)

Hurry ends in 10 mins

 

[jeff...]

Did you win? went for approx $22.75 a BF