ISO curly/fiddleback Koa 🤙 🌴

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ZanderPommo

ZanderPommo

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Joined
Oct 14, 2009
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1,526
Location
Tenino, Washington
Good Koa blanks are getting harder to find. The tighter the curls the better. Ideal blanks would be fiddleback curls with some color variation in the blank, ie: part sapwood part heartwood, but that's just a bonus. I'm mostly focused on good curls.
DM me pictures and let me know what you're looking to get for it.

Y'all know how it is blindly buying blanks online, and all the really good pieces I can find online are larger blocks meant for ripping knife scales so they're overpriced and would result in a lot of waste.

Please and thank you 😊
 
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I bought a couple of exhibition grade Koa blanks to make a pen for a buddy. Here's the other in a Majestic Jr kit.

I got it from https://www.woodturningz.com/Wood_Pen_Blanks.html?pg=5

A18jRlm.jpg
 
Ironically, that's actually why I made this post. I spent $15 on an exhibition grade Koa blank from them last week, and I do not feel what I received was exhibition grade. Paying $15 for a blank I can't see and then being disappointed with the outcome was frustrating. Don't get me wrong, it's a great company, and I plan to order from them in the future, just not on some thing like that. Especially because I have bought standard curly blanks and receive stuff like this pictured below, for much cheaper, and not listed as exhibition grade at all. If I spend that much money on exhibition grade, I want true exhibition grade.
 

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I hear you. What makes something "exhibition grade" can be so subjective. I'm always reluctant to pay more for the premium grade unless I'm buying specific, individual blanks (pictures of the exact blanks being sold).

Dave
 
ZanderPommo said:
Ironically, that's actually why I made this post. I spent $15 on an exhibition grade Koa blank from them last week, and I do not feel what I received was exhibition grade. Paying $15 for a blank I can't see and then being disappointed with the outcome was frustrating. Don't get me wrong, it's a great company, and I plan to order from them in the future, just not on some thing like that. Especially because I have bought standard curly blanks and receive stuff like this pictured below, for much cheaper, and not listed as exhibition grade at all. If I spend that much money on exhibition grade, I want true exhibition grade.
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That looks great.

Do you mind sharing your source?
 
I would recommend reaching out to woodturningz, showing them what you received and explaining why you do not feel it is exhibition grade. They may tell you that is as good as they have or work with on replacing. They are a decent group of folks.
 
MRDucks2 said:
I would recommend reaching out to woodturningz, showing them what you received and explaining why you do not feel it is exhibition grade. They may tell you that is as good as they have or work with on replacing. They are a decent group of folks.
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I'm fine with it. I am sure I will find a use for it somewhere, it was just far short of what I would've been willing to spend on it if I had seen it in person. I've been disappointed before ordering from many other places and getting blanks that I wasn't totally satisfied with. They probably would sort it out, I literally just got another shipment from them today of kits, I just don't plan on buying wood blanks blindly in from anywhere in general anymore.

Then again I just ordered 30 curly maple blanks from ExoticBlanks and for $1 each ended up with crazy tight curls on like 26 of them. The 4 that weren't absolutely insane were still better than I expected when ordering wood blind. 🤷🏼‍♂️
I just have strange luck.
 
ZanderPommo said:
I'm fine with it. I am sure I will find a use for it somewhere, it was just far short of what I would've been willing to spend on it if I had seen it in person. I've been disappointed before ordering from many other places and getting blanks that I wasn't totally satisfied with. They probably would sort it out, I literally just got another shipment from them today of kits, I just don't plan on buying wood blanks blindly in from anywhere in general anymore.

Then again I just ordered 30 curly maple blanks from ExoticBlanks and for $1 each ended up with crazy tight curls on like 26 of them. The 4 that weren't absolutely insane were still better than I expected when ordering wood blind. 🤷🏼‍♂️
I just have strange luck.
Click to expand...
I used to live closer to WoodTurningz and could go to the will-call counter and tell them what I was looking for specifically among there blanks ie, a Christmas blank with an equal amount of red green and white or a maple blank with at least a dozen eyes and they would go find what they thought matched and bring up for me to pick from. Then we moved 2 hours further away.
 
@ZanderPommo , are you still looking for tightly curled koa? I have several blanks I'd be willing to sell that I think would be "exhibition grade" by most people's standards. I would of course post pics for you to confirm if you're interested.
 
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