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808-241-1449
3148 Oihana St., #8,
Lihue, Kauai, HI 96766

©Davison Furniture Design 2004

 

Materials and Methods

In building her furniture Hayley Davison utilizes the beautiful woods of Hawaii such as koa and ohia, alone or in combination with other fine hardwoods. Koa is probably the best known and most sought-after island wood used in furniture, and it comes in a range of color from warm gold to reddish-brown, with an equally varied range of grain patterns from curly (shown above) to straighter-grained patterns similar to mahogany. Hayley uses koa from the Big Island and Kauai.

Hayley trained at North Bennett Street School in Boston in traditional 17th and 18th century woodworking methods. She combines time-tested traditional joinery such as hand-cut dovetails and mortise and tenon with the natural beauty of island hardwoods to create furniture that will last a lifetime and longer. Her building techniques allow for the wood movement and expansion and contraction that can loosen or even pull apart poorly built joints over time. This is especially important for pieces that go to climates with more variation in temperature and humidity than Hawaii.

To finish her pieces Hayley uses a nontoxic and natural oil and wax finish in several handrubbed coats that can take up to two weeks to complete. While not as fast and easy as a sprayed lacquer coat, this traditional wood finish will become more beautiful over time with the occasional application of a little more oil and wax. An additional benefit to this finish is that any future surface damage that might occur is more readily repaired than with a lacquer finish.

Since coming to Kauai in 1995 Hayley has made hundreds of pieces of furniture including tables, chairs, beds, dressers, cabinets, chests, and Tansu cabinets, as well as hand-bound books with wood covers and more.

Please contact us with any questions or for more information.

 

 

Handcarved dovetails on dresser drawers.

Applying a final coat of wax over an oil finish.

 

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