Do you have "Koa" Goggles???

(at roughly a 1/5 (and sometimes even more) of the price of koa , parota is the call for large slabs)


It amazes us how many times every week we get customers asking for Hawaiian Koa in almost impossible-to-find dimensions at bargain prices.

Don't get us wrong, we are also big fans of nice true koa, but the fact of the matter is unless your willing to pay a king's ransom, good looking koa in large dimensions just doesn't really exist anymore.

There are plenty of other species that yield the same great "koa" look at much more realistic prices.

(just because it looks like koa, doesn't mean it has to be koa)


It's as if some people have their "koa" goggles on and all they are looking for all the time is koa...koa...koa...if it isn't koa they don't want it. Even if they fall in love with a piece of wood thinking it is koa, the moment they find out its another less-expensive species-they don;t wnat it anymore.

For example-we get people coming in all the time asking us how much they just love our large "koa" slabs ( such as the one above and below) and need to have one.

Once we tell them it's not koa but in fact Parota, which is roughly a 1/5 of the price of what koa would go for, it's as if the "koa" goggles go back on and the parota slabs are no longer the gorgeous, perfect slabs they saw at first glance.

This happens time and time again, every single week, its amazing.

(By finally taking the "koa"-goggles off, this lucky customer finally found his impossible-to-find "koa" slab at a great bargain price...)

(although we could easily fool you, Tasmanian Black Acacia is not true Hawaiian Koa but probably 4 out of 5 customers can not tell the difference)


Even when we offer Tasmanian Black Acacia, which is pretty much the same species as Koa growing in Australia, those "koa" goggles go back on- nice and tight.

The two species look the same, smell the same, feel the same...but there is one little catch...Black Acacia much less expensive and much more plentiful than true Hawaiian Koa.

A lot of customers have taken the leap into the unknown and tried the Black Acacia only to come back and say that they should have been buying the stuff all along rather than paying the insane koa prices for true lesser quality "Hawaiian koa".

(This isn't some cruel joke...yes its that less expensive than Hawaiian Koa)


True Story:

Recently we had a customer pick up both these pieces of Black Acacia (above and below) before they were labeled along with the ugliest piece of Hawaiian Koa that we have ever seen , walk up to our counter and say, "I'll take all of these, they are just too beautiful".

As I measured them, figured out the prices and wrote it down on an invoice, the customer stopped me and said, "...wow, that cheap for these two?"

I started to break down the pricing thinking he was well aware they were Tasmanian Black Acacia and not Koa, like the ugly little chunk he also wanted, when he stopped me again and said, "...you mean they aren't koa?"

He then said he was going to hold off on the Black Acacia and just get the cracked up, un-figured piece of expensive koa.

Again this happens all the time...its crazy, we don't get it.

If you think you may be one of these un-fortunate souls with this -"koa" goggles- syndrome, do not worry...we are here to help.

Just give us a call at 760-434-3030 and we can tell you what we have in some of these other species, and hopefully help you save alot of time and money in the process.