Milo, grown & turned on Oʻahu.

In old Hawaiʻi

Milo was prized for food bowls (ʻumeke milo), poi calabashes and platters, second only to kou, because the wood gave no unpleasant taste to the food the way koa did. It came with the Polynesian voyagers as a canoe plant, though it may also have reached the islands on its own. The word milo also means to curl or twist.

What it looks like

Fresh heartwood is usually pale pink. As milo cures it darkens to chocolate brown or nearly black, and the contrast with its cream sapwood is the wood’s signature. The figure is streaked or wavy, and it takes a fine polish.

On the lathe

Milo dries slowly and is best cut into bowls while the log is still green, then dried with the ends sealed. It shrinks little. The wood carries a natural oil that slows oil-based varnish, and people who sand milo for years can become sensitive to the dust.

On Oʻahu

Milo grows along sandy shores and the edges of brackish marsh, most commonly on windward shores behind the reef, and around houses. Old trees are often hollow in the middle, and shallow roots spread across rocky ground.