End of show

Posted on September 17, 2007

I went to town to collect the piece I had at the 2007 Hawaiian Woodshow where I met Joel Bright. Joel’s work is extremely beautiful and I am a great admirer of his. He mentioned to me that I am one of the rare person over here having Noni wood on stock and whether I may give him some. He would gladly give me some Ebony in exchange. I wondered with him whether this is really a good deal considering that Ebony is very heavy and Noni wood very light…..We separated with big laughts and my promiss that I will give him some Noni wood. By the way, Noni wood is yellow like gold, but it is a soft wood.

My hike up the Waianae range

Posted on September 17, 2007

Like most sundays early mornings  I really like to go hiking as a way to stay in touch with nature and its environment. My companion on those trecks is my dog Sunny, always happy to go sniff out some mangoose or feral pigs. Some days I will just go back scouting some places I went before to check whether the strawberry guavas or passion fruits are ripe for harvesting.  Over the years I discovered places along trails with enormous bamboo groves, or old taro fields, even a small forest of Jack fruit trees.

But today I wanted to go up Waianae range to check on native trees. I started hiking from the Del Monte village along Kunia road straight up. The trail is very easy and mostly in the tree shade. The bottom part of the range is covered with Eucalyptus and silky oak trees, but than rapidly changing into Koa trees at a higher elevation. The Koa trees are quite big and well formed, whereby the silky oak looks mostly sick and dying. There is also Sandal wood and rose apple trees., and some very strong and bid yellow guava trees.

I was sadened by the sight of 2 very large Koa trees being cut down and quarter cut into 3 foot section, but unfortunately never collected, but left to rot. This was clearly the work of illegal logging . Somebody wanted to make a quick buck, but must have realised that this is not worth the candle, having to haul down heavy pieces of wood 2-3 miles down a trail for a few dollars.

The view from the top of the range is breath taking and nearly a perfect 180 degree, from Haleiwa to Kapolei.

Vaka Moana

Posted on September 13, 2007

While perousing the August-September 2007 issue of Hana Hou, the magazine of Hawaiian Airlines, I came across the article  about Ben Finney, a story written by Julia Steele and titled “AMONG THE STARS”, The explorations of Ben Finney.

I have always been a great admirer of Ben Finney and always wondered why this fascinating person is not given more credit for being at the very root of what is now commonly called “The Hawaiian Renaissance”.  Without Ben Finney, there may never have been a Hokule’a  nor any voyages to far away islands in contemporary canoes.  But maybe its because , and I quote from the story “Looking back from three decades on, the Hokule’a s voyage is still startling for its audacity and bravery. It had its trials, though, and Finney found himself in the middle of the biggest one, caught on the fault line between cultural pride and historical resentment. In the midst of a Native Hawaiian renaissance, there were those who definitely did not want to see a Haole on the canoe” ……and there are still many who resent haolees to be associated with canoes one form or another, or whatever their contribution to it.

Having said that, Ben Finney contributed three chapters  to VAKA MOANA, a thick and thorough tome edited by Kerry Howe and which is said to be the definitive work on Pacific canoes.

That may well be if this tome is more about ancient Oceanic navigational skills, but I can hardly imagine any present or future book to me more comprehensive about Oceanic canoes than those of Hadden & Hornell and the 2 volumes of Jean Neyret.

Honolulu Advertiser …..”Army medic builds…”

Posted on September 10, 2007

Here we go..only yesterday did I speak about the very little media coverage the Hawaii Woodshow gets overall. You would believe that if the Honolulu Advertiser wants to write an article about music instruments on this day, the 10th September,  they would take advantage of the Woodshow currently taking place in Honolulu , send a reporter and a photographer down there and do some writing about R.W. Rollo Scheurenbrand who won first place with his steel string acoustic guitar, or about T.Dilcher, MD for his gorgeous six-string Ukelele, all  made with Hawaiian grown woods. But no, the Honolulu Advertiser had an editorial in today’s paper about an army medic doing violins back in Alabama.  I guess its all about the bottom line…ie whats cheaper to write and print.

Wooden base for canoe model

Posted on September 10, 2007

Does it ever happen to you that you have to make an particular element needed to finish and artwork or piece of furniture but you hate to do that piece ? You also know that you have no choice in the matter, you have to do the piece if you want to finish the “project”.

This is what I had to do today, and believe me, I always need some kind of mental stimulation to carry on, so what I do, is to put the radio dial on some kind of rock music and beat the crap out of the wood in terms of cutting or sanding, which makes me forget about the situation I am in.  Just do it, period.

15th Annual Juried woodworking Exhibition

Posted on September 10, 2007

I would wish this association would use another title for what is actually an exhibition of artwork and furniture made with Hawaiian grown wood. “Woodshow” sounds to me like an exhibition of different species of wood in some kind of lumberyard. It has always been my opinion that the name “Woodshow” is the reason why this exhibition gets so little coverage in the local media, although , in all fairness, it is at this show that one has the opportunity to discover or contemplate the very best in Hawaiian  wood art and none of the exhibiting artist has anything to envy from mainland craftsman.

My favorite piece, and the one I considered the most beautifully executed, although not on the official entrants list was the china cabibet from Alan Wilkinson. Just unbeatable. Fabulous.

Another piece, which I loved enormously was the Kapa Pahu buffet by David Reisland.

I really had to admire the inlay work on it and I thought that this piece deserves a price and actually it made first place in the category “furniture.

Personally I entered a Salomon Islands canoe into the show and was not expecting any kind of honor of it . I did not feel that it was a piece which would merit an honor.

 Sadly I was missing my good friend John Gonzcar at the show but was trilled to meet Bob Butt . Many new faces, few old friends.

The rough canoe

Posted on September 7, 2007

Once the Jackaranda wood has been shaped and carved its time to inlay with Mother of pearl and paua shell. Its a long and tedious job.

Hawaii’s Woodshow

Posted on September 7, 2007

Shall not forget that I have been invited to the opening night reception of this year’s woodshow, which takes place today.

I entered the show with 24″ long Salomon Islands canoe, inlaid with mother of pearl and paua shell, carved out of Jackaranda and ebonized.

Packing and shipping

Posted on September 7, 2007

I take very little pleasure in having to admit that for my first posting on this blog I want to talk about what a bother it is to pack and ship canoe models. I cannot understand that I have all the patience in the world to make ship models but so very little when it comes to pack them. Now that all is said and done, now that the canoe model looks beautiful and making its maker proud of it, I have to spend hours building those stupid wooden crates and stand in line at the Mililani post office , behind 20 people who will be asked the customary 7 questions of whether they need stamps or want to pay with credit card, and most of them not yet having any idea about how they want the USPS to carry their parcel to their destination and what kind of forms need to be filled in first. Ever having had to line up at the Mililani post office ?…You would think somebody is going to complain for the lack of clerks there…Anyway, I have a choice, it is either the USPS with its waiting line or UPS with its fast service and much higher cost…Packing sucks.

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