By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

Master navigator Mau Piailug squatted on a board up near the top of Niu Valley, his crutches stacked behind him, his hand moving with the precision of a surgeon at the operating table as he shaved slices of white wood from a new canoe paddle.

It would be an authentic handmade artifact carved as his ancestors had passed down the knowledge, the blade in the shape of a fish with a flared tail at the tip.

Mau's adz, however, was an invention born of necessity. Airport security frowns on carrying sharp instruments in your luggage. Mau could bring from Satawal in remote Micronesia only his hone, a dark gray stone the size of a giant Hershey bar.

At a hardware store in Hawai'i Kai, he found a small Japanese hand hoe used for potting plants. Mau ground down the steel edge until you could shave with it. It slices wood as easily as cucumber.

The blade moved up and down in a graceful rhythm, patiently bringing the blade closer to the line that Mau had ruled on the rough wood. Little by little. Closer and closer to the line. Then exactly on it, leaving a surface as white and smooth as if it had been sanded.

To watch Mau work with wood is to see an artist at work. The wood is hau from the Big Island. There is no hau in Satawal so paddles are carved from a heavier wood. Tahitians use lightweight hau.

During his visit with the Bertelmanns at Waimea on the Big Island, Mau roughed out five canoe paddles. For the fine work, he drew the shape of the fish on the blades and drew straight lines on the handles that would eventually merge into roundness.

His only tools are the adz, the hone and a felt-tip pen. His father taught him to carve. "Make a box." The boy carved a box. "The lid doesn't fit. Throw it in the fire." The fifth box passed inspection.

Mau is carving five paddles that will be sold Sunday at a celebration for the voyaging canoe Hokule'a on leaving dry dock. The idea is to raise money to help pay for the dry docking. Collectors will probably snap up the paddles.

But there will be other bargains. Master canoe builder Wally Froiseth has been working the past month to turn old parts of the Hokule'a into souvenirs. How about a piece from the base that holds the pin for the steering paddle? It's sailed 12,000 miles round trip from Hawai'i to New Zealand before it cracked.

Or a fitting from the mast, or a piece of the boom saddle, or a block from the rigging? Each carved into a decorative piece.

The event will be held at the Marine Education and Training Center on Sand Island. Turn right at the first stop light after the bridge. It's from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with lots of other things going on, of course. But rare pieces by master carvers don't come along every day.

I left Mau sitting on the board, the mountains soaring up on both sides, a peaceful look on his brown face, his hand moving in a graceful rhythm. He didn't even look up as I drove away.

Reach Bob Krauss at 525-8073.