Samoan Style Kava Bowl/Tanoa

Hey guys, been a fan for a long time, actually did my first Tiki in Iraq this last tour, not as awesome as you guys, but I kept all of your work in mind while I made it (pics below, please excuse the rough edges, Iraqi wood sucks!). My question, as the title imply's, I would like to know if any of you have had worked on a bowl similar in design to the kava bowls that are found throughout the south pacific. Just wonderin if anyone has gone down this road, since I would like to atempt one myself, just wondering if anyone had any ideas. Thanks in advance if anyone can offer advice or pics of there own work, after all, you all are the best wood workers I know!
-Ioelu

Thanks, my brother, for your service to our country --

Oh yeah, great tiki too.

Sorry, I can't help you with the Kava bowl question as I'm strictly a painter; I'd refer to whatever S.Pacific art books I could find - and I'm sure you'll get several responses here (some in a few minutes!)

Take care and Thanks for sharing. G

Your name implies that you are Samoan. practice practice practice. don't give up.
Thank you for fighting for American ideals.

What sort of wood is it your working with anyways? Just curious.

As far as the wood goes, thats actually one of my main questions. What kind would one recomend? where would one obtain said recomended piece? How big? and the bowl's that I have seen are black, they say that its black because it got buried in the mud? any one know how that works? just general questions really, more interested in things like that, once I have an idea as to the process, I think i'll just start taking away wood until it looks like a bowl! thanks again guys.
Ioelu

I have a Fijian and a Samoan bowl and recently obtained some kava to take them for a test drive. Just waiting for the right occasion...I'm hoping to make the kava ceremony an integral part of my home tiki bar experience eventually. :)

Lots of good info here:
http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-BucSamo-t1-body1-d3-d3-d3.html

Another site mentions the wood used for Samoan and Fijian bowls is a local hardwood called ifilele (Afzelia Bijuga, but a little further poking around reveals this species is highly endangered due to its popularity for souvenir carvers and only a few stands remain. Best bet is to find the the cleanest, roundest hardwood log you can locally...I would imagine anything heavy and densely-grained would work. Carving wise, wood ain't my area of expertise but I think those curved-back gouges would work well for making bowls.
I'd probably also go Fijian over Samoan if carving my own...have you seen how many legs those things have?