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Photos by Ronen Zilberman, Star-Bulletin

Wood Works

Whether slivers of koa or slices
of bamboo, wood becomes art at the
annual Woodworking Show

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By Stephanie Kendrick
Star-Bulletin

MOST people find learning to play a musical instrument enough of a challenge, but not Mike Chock. At about the time he began learning to play guitar eight years ago, he decided to build one. Why? Well, he didn't know what to buy, so he thought he might as well put his research to use by making something of his own.

Consumed by the challenge of making the perfect guitar, he says, "Guitar playing is secondary now."

By Ronen Zilberman, Star-Bulletin
This three-foot-tall bowl by RW Butt is made from hundreds
of bamboo slices glued together. Pieces by both artists and
other woodworkers are on exhibit at Aloha Tower Marketplace.

ON VIEW What: "Na La'au O Hawai'i," Hawaii Forest Industry Association's 8th Annual Furniture and Woodworking Show Dates: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays tomorrow through Sept. 17 Place: Aloha Tower Marketplace, Pier 10 Cost: Free Call: 239-5517

Chock's skills as a contractor came in handy as the internal structure of a guitar is the key to its sound quality. "Inside, it's like a house," said the woodworker, whose talent will be on display at the Hawaii Forest Industry Association's 8th annual Furniture and Woodworking Show starting tomorrow.

His university training in art came into play as well. "It's kind of fun to get back into it," he said.

Rather than buying rosettes to decorate the sound holes of his guitars and ukulele, Chock makes his own. He has incorporated everything from fimo clay to cross sections of chopsticks into his work. The guitar on display at the show sports a mosaic of thousands of slivers of wood in a Marquesan tattoo pattern.

The sound holes themselves are a particular source of intrigue for Chock.

"The sound releases from the sound hole very differently in different locations," he said. So he has experimented with sound holes of different sizes and shapes on the front, side or back of the instrument.

"It's kind of like golf. You're looking for that perfect sound, like that perfect swing," he said. "I'm really into more sound than decor, but the decor is kind of what happens."

Chock prefers to use found woods for his creations, partly because they can be more interesting and partly because of cost. "I'm Pake, I can't spend money," he said. It can cost $600 to $700 just to buy wood for the sides and wall of a guitar, said Chock.

Chock salvaged burnt pheasant wood to create the music stand he made for this year's show. The graceful arc of the stand's trunk opens slightly on each end in a pattern like a rice-paper fan. The end product is part design, part free form.

By Ronen Zilberman, Star-Bulletin
Mike Chock's interest in guitar lessons led him to craft his
first instrument. Eight years later, he is more interested
in making guitars than music.

"I plan it, I draw it, I do several designs, then I end up with what I end up with," said Chock.

The contractor cum woodworker now has a ukulele making school, Hana Lima, which he is hoping to turn into a full-time business.

Doug Philpotts also went from construction to woodworking, but he's been at the latter for about 20 years.

While he crafts furniture, mostly larger pieces, of all kinds, his specialty is koa beds.

"Everybody wants a koa bed," said Philpotts. "You might as well go with tradition rather than against it."

Typically, he works on a single design at a time, but the beds at this year's show represent his effort at creating a higher production model. "I'm trying to design something with a lower price point but still looking like a Hawaiian piece," he said.

The beds are koa and coconut, and the queen would sell for between $6,000 and $7,000, the twin about 20 percent less, said Philpotts. Georg James and John Dinsmore designed art for the headboards.

Furniture builder Gerhard Osterberger has been a woodworker for 23 years. "I never wanted to do anything else," he said.

By Ronen Zilberman, Star-Bulletin
Mike Chock uses a guitar with a view to show his students
the internal structure of the instrument.

He made a grandfather clock for this year's show and, like Philpotts, he works with a lot of koa. "People just love koa," he said.

"Of all the woods I ever saw, curly koa is the most beautiful," said Osterberger. "Mango is very nice too, but I'm getting a rash from it."

RW Butts' project for this year's show had him worrying that after a lifetime of woodworking, he was developing an allergy to the stuff.

Butts created a lidded bowl of bamboo, about three feet in height.

"Bamboo doesn't turn very well because its very splintery," he said. "I felt so itchy from it because of all the splinters I thought, oh no, I'm allergic to the stuff."

It took about four boxes of bamboo collected from Nuuanu to create the bowl, which is equal parts wood and holes. To realize his design, Butts first had to turn a form for the bowl, then glue the bamboo pieces together on the form, finish them and remove the form. At $4,200, it's a steal.

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