TRADITIONAL HAWAIIAN STONEWORK AND HOW TO DO IT

[@katrussell6819]

Great video. Very informative. Thank you!

[@Elem40]

Thank You for sharing Your stories with us. One thing I take away from this, is taking the time things need to be done the best possible way. Another thing that You show us, is to truely experience and embrace what we are doing instead of shust getting work done and walk away.

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

Mahalo (thank you, in Hawaiian) for your thoughtful comments, Max. Yes, in Hawaiian cultural thought the work that goes into making something creates mana (spiritual essence or power), and it's called "mana hana lima" -- the mana from hand-work. The time spent making things in older times, carefully and thoroughly, was truly great -- in the absence of iron tools and especially power tools. I made one modest-sized fishhook the old way, out of deer bone, and it had a barb and was well finished. It took me 10 hours of patient work!

[@Elem40]

@@traditionalhawaiianculture It must have been a painful experience to loose one of these fishhooks back in the day. The spiritual power of things made by hand is something, every craftsman knows. Now I know on Hawai there is a word for that. I made a notebook cover from leather for my wife, all hand sewn and with some words stamped inside. It felt like putting a little piece of myself into it, for her to keep. I live in Germany and grew up in a seciety with a very western mindset. Sometimes I think, we should learn the value of having few quality things instead of accumulating a huge pile of junk - both in our houses and in our minds.

[@lecongvu1997]

Thank you, thank you so much for this informative lecture. Here in Central Vietnam, the native people are Austronesians, but they have a long, long history of working with iron and ceramic. They gained the knowledge from trading with other ethnics, and where they live there is plenty of clay and ore. It is so fascinating to see how the Hawaiian material culture developed without those natural resources. But I have seen the stone tools of their distant ancestors. The knapping was cruder than what the Hawaiians did, but next to the tools made from obsidian and quartz, archaelogists even found some knives made from meteor shards. Anyway, thank you once again, and hope to see more lectures from you.

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

Mahalo ( thank you) for your fine comment. Yes, the study of the ancient peoples is fascinating! Aloha, Ka’imiloa

[@TheGreatest1974]

Thankyou for your time, and your knowledge. These videos of yours are fascinating. Best wishes from Scotland. 👍🇬🇧

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

Mahalo (thanks) for your good words... all the way from Scotland! The videos seem to be getting all around the world now, amazingly. Aloha, Ka'imiloa

[@jamesdouglaswhite]

Nice, impressive. Thank you for thinking of us!

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

Thanks for your kind comment. Aloha, Ka'imiloa

[@kauairalph108]

Thank you so much I love your video. I live in Kekaha Kauai and Haoli. I have found several rounded lava stones and searching why someone would make them. Thank you so much I make grinders and want to make a bowl and platter. Mahalo nui 🙏

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

Mahalo nui for your good words. I am actually next door to you right now, inWaimea. Perhaps I cansee your stones and talk story with you. If you like, email me today, Tues., or tomorrow, with your phone number and times I can call or text, at [e-mail]. I’ll only be here thru Thurs. Aloha, Ka’imiloa

[@mahi-ai-kalo]

Mahalo nui iā 'oe no ka hā'awi 'ana i kou 'ike Unko. 🙏🏼🤙🏼

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

A mahalo iā 'oe i kou 'olelo ana ia'u i ka leo kanaka. Nui ko'u aloha i kēia mea , aka, līli'i ka'u 'olelo ana Hawai'i i Alikona, ka home a'u i kēia wā. Aloha, Ka'imiloa

[@thomaskila3801]

I am so glad I found this channel. Your knowledge and expertise is astounding! I am in absolute awe that you were able to make a perfectly shaped pohaku ku'i 'ai in 21 hours! I would love to see your methods for sussing out the unique shape of that pohaku. Mahalo nui for sharing this!

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

Thank you for your nice comment. I hope you watched both parts of the stone-work video. I used only three palm-sized stones to shape that pohaku ku'i 'ai, and I believe I showed them in the video. One was a very hard 'ala hammerstone, and a smaller hammerstone with more-or-less a blunt point to do fine pecking, and lastly a softer basalt stone containing a good bit of olivine crystals - that smooths the pecked surface after it is "patted" as smooth as possible with a flat portion of the hammerstones. To online and search at Google for "images of Hawaiian poi pounders". You'll get ma'a to the pleasing shape. If you see one with a sharp corner where the top meets the stem, it was very likely made with modern tools, including a grinder. Aloha, Ka'imiloa

[@ironlionzion2265]

Aloha mahalo for this video from Kāne'ohe

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

And mahalo to you for watching! I've been extremely busy the past six months or so, but have new videos planned. Please stay tuned. Aloha, Ka'imiloao

[@johnmcf3635]

Love the title card!

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

Thanks for your comment. You can see that we try to put our time into the actual video, rather than the introductory title!!

[@garyonuma]

good content! all meat no bs aloha fr lanai! good on for replying to comments

[@edisongexha5881]

Love it

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

I appreciate your kind words, Edison. Aloha, Ka’imiloa

[@theGreaterAwareness]

There are many interesting things that can be done with rock. For example, if you were to make cement, you can mix charcoal with milk and blend it really good. When it sets, there will be a transition line where the heavy and the light material separates. You drain the top off and there will be a thin layer of graphene infused milk. You mix this milk in with your cement and it makes the cement 30% stronger. Now, you can take that a step further and make the cement self healing by introducing the Scoby Bacteria to the cement. This means that if the cement cracks, the Scoby bacteria that is infused into the cement will cause the cement to recrystallize and fill the gaps/cracks with mineral. Apparently this also increases the strength of the cement. Scoby is interesting because you can stretch it out into a jelly like canvas and as soon as you apply alcohol to it, it will change into a material like leather which you can use for making lashings/rope/clothing/etc. If I was to make a sling, I would make the projectiles out of hardened cement so that I can make sure that they have an ideal weight distribution.

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

That sure was an interesting and erudite commentary! I'll pass along your slingstone recommendation. But it's notable that the principle of the sling and how just one side is released when throwing means that the slingstone is spinning on its axis and thus negating its own imbalances. Aloha, Ka'imiloa

[@oldwaysrisingfarm]

Wonderful presentation, mahalo! I was wondering if you would have any pictures of the adze blades you have made or have access to against a scale bar or grid that you would be able to share, I am a flint knapper (a hobby) studying the technology and would love to have access to more examples than are presented in the Te Rangi Hiroa book. While I live in North America I studied ethnobotany at UH Manoa and it is so nice to see Hawaiian culture better represented on KZbin! Thanks either way, and thanks again for the video!

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

Look at the book "Material Culture The J.S. Emerson Collection of Hawaiian Artifacts" by Catherine Summers. I know of no other book that has such an amazing record of where something was collected, plus a description and measurements. There are five or six pages of adze photos and descriptions there., tho some of the latter ones have steel blades. Aloha, Ka'imiloa

[@oldwaysrisingfarm]

@@traditionalhawaiianculture Thanks so much, I will look that up!

[@MarkFranklin-ws5jf]

Besides Kaimi loa look at the work Tom Pico, a truly master Hawaiian stone master

[@Kevin80237]

Rock and stone!

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

Thanks for your comment, Kevin. Please explain it to me a bit, because I can't see your logo pic very well. Are you doing stonework stone-on-stone too? Aloha, Ka'imiloa

[@tranquilityhexified]

Its a game referance👍

[@irelanddarrie1996]

Aloha from Maui 😊

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

Thanks for commenting. Here, our hearts go out to Maui. Aloha, Ka'imiloa

[@iamaloha2]

Aloha mai e Ka'imiloa. I think of you every time I pass your house by Honoka'a where I took a Ipu Heke class from you. I'm glad that I found you. Are you also growing Hawaiian Ipu there? KEALOHA from Kohala, Hi.

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

Hope all is well with you. I recently thought of that fun Ipu Heke class! Do you remember the song for my wife's birthday on I think the last day of the several-weekend class? I hate to drive by our fine former house now, since it has been so starkly altered and is painted a Pepto Bismo color! Gone is the Hawaiian-plants garden in front too! No, no ipu growing where I now live. I have never found a secure place where I felt I could grow them without their being carried away by folks who think they are edible squash. Aloha, Ka'imiloa

[@iamaloha2]

@@traditionalhawaiianculture I'll keep watching you on KZbin now that I've found you. Per chance have you been to the crystal mines?

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

There aren't any crystal mines in Hawaii that I know of, so I presume you are asking about Arizona, which has many a mine! But no, I have not been to any crystal mines here. Aloha, Ka'imiloa

[@keliihananui83]

Mahalo piha

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

Sorry I missed your comment. It's much appreciated, Keliihananui!

[@Organiqintel]

Aloha Uncle- this is invaluable information to share your knowledge as a mea hana pōhaku kālai ikaika kahuna. I am on the big island, my family home is about a thousand feet from Ahu’aila’au, and have been here for about the last 20 years, long before Ahu’aila’au rose up from the ground below. I am very interested to hear you would be willing to teach me, or find a mea hana pōhaku kālai ikaika as a mentor in traditional practices. I have done a bit of research into this topic, as a lava guide in kalapana for a number of years, I became very interested in this area of cultural history and practice.

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

Mahalo for your 'ōlelo hawai'i and also for your dedication to nā mea hawai'i kahiko. I am not fluent in spoken hawaiian, but can read it with the help of the Dictionary, and more importantly, translate. No laila, e 'olu'olu 'oe, hele aku 'oe i kēia lā i ka website hawaiian-culture.com a 'ōlelo aku i'au i ke 'ano email. Aloha, Ka'imiloa

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

Bryan -- I forgot to mention in my reply yesterday: did you watch Part 2 of the stonework video, which I did indoors? Lots of important info there. Aloha, Ka'imiloa

[@richardkaleo9061]

Aloha Kumu Kane one question what kind of beautiful lay you have is pika shells or smoothed pohaku

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

Thanks for your viewing and interest, Richard. My lei in the video is unusual and I've never seen another one. It always incites comments! It was made by someone from broken pieces of Kukui shells, some of them the rare blond ones, and others more tan in color, or else brown or black. Aloha, Ka'imiloa

[@evalueway8686]

Hello, do you sell any ulu maika / discoidals that you have made?

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

Thanks for your inquiry. No, I don't sell such things, but rather concentrate on passing on what I have learned by talking with Elders, observations in museums and collections, and lots of personal experimentation and experience. I hope you will give a try at finding just the right stone and making an 'ulu maika for yourself. Aloha, Ka'imiloa

[@emericklamontagne3652]

Aloha Uncle, I have made many umeke pohaku, but I cheat. I use an angle grinder, diamond edge cutting disk. I find my pohaku along North Hilo shores. Made many successful bowls, sold well. Do you have an email address? Can send photos of what I have made.

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

Mahalo for your interest! Email via this address: [e-mail]

[@traditionalhawaiianculture]

Welina e Emerick, I don’t always get anotification from KZbin when a viewer makes a comment, so I missed yours andjust now saw it. Please email me at alohahawaii96822@gmail. com, and then post a message here that you emailed me. Then I can look for your email at that inbox. Mahalo, Kaimiloa