Some of Kapahikaua “Kapa” Haskell’s wooden bowls are reminiscent of stained glass, but none of his woodwork is dyed.

He insists on keeping the wood natural, said his wife, Donna Haskell.

He uses koa, pine, mango and his favorites, indigenous milo and kamani wood, among others for his pieces, and gets his raw materials from various sources. Some wood is purchased, some comes from friends with acreage and lots of trees, Kapa Haskell said. The business name is Kapahikaua.

“When I see him pull up in his truck, and the back of the truck is sagging down and he’s driving 25 miles per hour, I’m wondering, ‘How did he even get that in there?’” Donna Haskell said.

Once he sees a piece of wood that captures him, “he knows exactly what it will look like” when it is finished, she said. “He’s always kind of been like that. … I call him the wood whisperer.”

The beautiful appearance of his bowls — or umeke in Hawaiian — his jewelry boxes, jewelry, small versions of Hawaiian weapons, paddles and other items might lead people to believe he seeks perfection in the wood grain.

That may be true for some projects, but Kapa Haskell is keen to find wood with rot, scars and other imperfections that cause interesting effects in the grain. With certain pieces of pine, “I wait for it to spalt,” to develop discoloration from fungus, he said.

Haskell is carrying on a family legacy, his wife said. “His family used to do it,” she said. He also carries his late grandfather’s name.

Haskell started out making koa jewelry boxes and small furniture like coffee tables with a friend, he said. A lathe had been sitting around unused at his home, and a friend showed him how to use it and how he could turn bowls with only four additional tools.

“I started making my own shapes,” Haskell said, and had some sales success when he took his wares to craft fairs.

Donna Haskell had thought this woodworking thing would be a hobby her husband would get out of his system.

“But then he entered the wood show in 2008 and won first place and honorable mention in the novice division,” she said. It affirmed his confidence, and “ever since, it has been his love and his passion, and it kind of goes into the wood.”

The two Hawaii’s Woodshow award-winning bowls and two additional, specially made vessels were presented to the couple’s four children. The 2015 Woodshow is going on now through Oct. 11 at the Honolulu Museum of Art Gallery at Linekona, 1111 Victoria St.

“It’s a legacy. (The award-winning bowls are) theirs, from their father. They’re so proud of it,” Haskell said.

Kapa Haskell has added jewelry and small-scale Hawaiian-style weapons, paddles and other items to his product lineup, which is available at many of the larger craft fairs, such as the recent Made in Hawaii Festival.

Prices range from $20 for earrings up to $2,800 for “really big bowls,” his wife said, adding that the most popular bowl sizes sell for $100 to $300. “That’s a popular price range for folks.”

The Haskells’ long-term desire is to have their own retail gallery, “and hopefully later on, get farmland or ag land (and build) a place where local kids can come in and learn how to do what our ancestors did, make weapons and turn bowls. That’s my whole goal,” Haskell said.

The couple also runs Haskell Driving School LLC.

“He does the driving part and I do the classroom part,” Donna Haskell said. “We are partners in both of our businesses,” both of which she manages, “but we both take part in it.”

It’s “kind of funny” that people ask, “Don’t you get sick of each other? You do two jobs together and raise your family together,” she said.

However, the driving takes him out of the house, and his woodworking studio is in the garage. Also, she spends time at the Island Artisans Cooperative they’re part of at the Marriott Ko Olina Beach Club.

The couple could “go bigger” with the driving school, “but I don’t want to go bigger in that, I want to go bigger in the woodworking,” Kapa Haskell said. “I can stay in my garage and create.”

“The biggest thing I’m happy about is that I can take care of my family,” he said. “People keep telling me my work is getting better, but I’m just happy I can do something and take care of my family.”

“Family is everything to us,” Donna Haskell said.

“Buy Local” each Aloha Friday is about made-in-Hawaii products and the people who make them. Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com, or on Twitter as @erikaengle.