How do you finish homemade wood lensboards?

[Jay Decker]

Finished a new batch of boards and tried a few finishes... here's what I learned:

1. Birch plywood lensboards are strong and work well, but they are hard to matching the finish on my 8x10 Kodak 2-D and Century Universal Studio Cameras.

2. Ebony (black) stain does not dye the birch plywood wood "black" evenly, see the photo below.

3. Sealing plywood with a coat of finish, e.g., MinWax Polycrylic, help achieve a more even application of stain on plywood.

4. Applying more and more pigmented stain to make the wood darker will eventually result in the wood looking like it was painted brown, see the photos of "mud brown" finished lensboards below.

5. Painter's Touch Black Gloss is a latex paint that is produces a high-gloss finish, see the photos of the 9x9 black gloss lensboard below. And, it is relatively ease to achieve a good brushed finish.

6. MinWax Polycrylic Clear Satin has a very nice surface finish. The surface finish of semi-gloss version of this product simply sucks IMHO.

7. Foam brushes work well for application of MinWax Polycrylic.

8. My favorite paint finish on lensboards is lacquer paint, see the photos of the two 6x6 lensboards below.

9. Painting the backs of lensboards flat black is worth the effort.


What works well for you?


http://webpages.charter.net/monkeytumble/lensboards/IMG_7667.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/monkeytumble/lensboards/IMG_7665.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/monkeytumble/lensboards/IMG_7669.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/monkeytumble/lensboards/IMG_7671.jpg

[IanG]

Nothing ?

I've been restoring plate cameras, TP shutters, etc and making new parts, inc lens boards.

Usually I stain the wood then French polish, the new parts match the original, takes time but will last. I now make up my own French polish.

There were no images when I answered :D

Ian

[Jay Decker]

http://webpages.charter.net/monkeytumble/lensboards/IMG_7676.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/monkeytumble/lensboards/IMG_7685.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/monkeytumble/lensboards/IMG_7689.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/monkeytumble/lensboards/IMG_7694.jpg

[Jay Decker]

Usually I stain the wood then French polish, the new parts match the original, takes time but will last. I now make up my own French polish.

Ian - what do you use for stain?

How many coats of shellac do you pad on?

[Steven Tribe]

For one piece lens boards - I have made a series of 9x9" for Century studio - I use resanded mahogany veneer recycled from small furniture. Ordinary spray alkyd clear gloss varnish - about 7 coats. I use the warm air oven in the kitchen to speed up the time between coats. When I get some 3 piece lens boards ordered (for the lenses I judge to be keepers), I will probably use the same system.

My standards as far as "unseen" wood working are not as high as the OP!

[IanG]

Ian - what do you use for stain?

Depends, in the UK there's a product Colron (I think made by Ronseal) this is specialist wood dye and available in a range of colours.

For my restoration of a Quarter plate camera, where the front standard was long lost, I made a stain for the new oak parts from Red Bush tea by boiling used tea-bags. I got a great match.

Using French polish I lose most of the wood grain which matches the original parts again, I can also add dye to the polish (not Colron though). I guess I might use up to 15 coats of shellac, depends on the part, sometimes 5 or 6, but as they get rubbed down between coats the final finish isn;t that thick.

I have three new boards almost identical to yours (unstained) that came with one of my Agfa Ansco 10x8's, made from marine ply. I'll try staining one tomorrow to match the camera. The 4th had been stained and a Cambo Dopal 1 board attached to it but it's a very poor match.

Ian

[Jack Dahlgren]

That brown "stain" is just pigment which builds up as you see. You need to use a dye if you want it dark and still transparent. There are aniline dyes available for woodworking which will suit you or you can use an iron stain:

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/article/Ebonizing_Wood/

Plenty of options if you want it black.

[edp]

Iron-on wood veneer and a few coats of shellac.

[IanG]

When French polish is used sometimes a filler powder or pigment is added to the first coats to hide most or all the wood grain, this leads to the uniform finish seen on some older LF camears, Kodaks, Agfa Ansco (Antony & Scoville) etc.

Ian

[BarryS]

I finish my baltic birch plywood boards with exotic veneers. I bought a big sample pack of veneers and I finish off the veneers with three coats of a tung finishing oil. Here are some of my 10" square Century Studio camera lens boards. The veneer samples aren't quite big enough to cover the full 10", so I make a faux three piece finish with the veneers.

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/9982/lensboards4593.jpg

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/5692/lensboards4588.jpg

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/562/lensboards4596.jpg

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/1570/lensboards4599.jpg

[David E. Rose]

Brushing Lacquer (Deft or Behlen's) over minwax oil stain. Lacquer is what most camera makers would have been using in the mid 1900s (Shellac is another possibility, especially for cameras from the early 1900's). Ken Hough's website suggests that Deardorffs were lacquered. Lacquer was chosen by camera makers (and furniture makers) in part because of it's quick drying properties, important for volume production. I the factory, it would have been sprayed. I use a foam brush to apply and throw away after each coat. Watch out for the fumes and the flammability! I generally coat the upward facing surface of each part only to control the flatness of the finish (it takes 6 "rotations" to do a cube). After 4-5 coats, let it dry for a few days, then rub out with 0000 steel wool.

I have made boards for my Deardorff that match the original finish amazingly well. I used Minwax "Red Mahogany" for the stain. I am presently refinishing two Deardorffs using this method and they also look great.

[IanG]

Should add that like Barry I do use veneers, a good friend makes very up-market furniture and so I started using veneers late 1970'sm and then much more recently inherited a good assortment from a guitar maker.

However veneer's not always the best option if you have (or want) to match existing parts, so I use old bits of broken furniture or junk lens boards for a better match, as Steven Tribe suggests.

I'll usually do trial stainings (more than one) and then polishing on offcuts first before finishing the final parts to get a good match.

It's great fun learning the hard way, and then having the satisfaction of the perfect finish :D

That means a restoration or replacement part looks like it's original, and that's the craft.

Should add that I could use cellulose lacquer like David, and have done many times in the past (outside camera restoration) , it's very much faster but I find French polishing more satisfying and gives a more subtle finish. In time it'll age and crack like the original too :)

Ian

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Since I build my own cameras out of Walnut I just make Walnut lens boards from the same stock or very similar Walnut. I dry sand to 120 and then wet sand with diamond pads and Watco Oil to 1500 grit. A couple of coats of Pate Dugay French paste wax and I'm done. I'll have some pictures soon. Making some boards for the 14x17 soon.

Jim

[Fotoguy20d]

Those are some impressive looking lensboards. I hate to admit that I just use the same flat black rustoleum spray paint that I use on the inner surface.

Dan

[Steven Tribe]

Here is a selection of lens boards (9x9") made from approx. 1950 mahogany furniture (table) veneer. The piece in the bottom left corner shows the original appearance before sanding/new surface treatment.

The veneer turned out to be "tiger stripped mahogany which I think is a bit garish.

[John Berry]

Flat black Krylon spray paint.

[Jay Decker]

OK, OK... I should have laminated veneer on the face, stained, and finished with lacquer or shellac. But, there is always happy ending when lensboards are finished, even if they are mud brown...

http://webpages.charter.net/monkeytumble/lensboards/IMG_7700.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/monkeytumble/lensboards/IMG_7701.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/monkeytumble/lensboards/IMG_7704.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/monkeytumble/lensboards/IMG_7706.jpgd

[Jay Decker]

http://webpages.charter.net/monkeytumble/lensboards/IMG_7709.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/monkeytumble/lensboards/IMG_7712.jpg

[cowanw]

You can't go wrong with basic black; always in fashion.
Love the Universal Heliar
Regards
Bill

[Michael Roberts]

Red Mahogany stain comes as close to matching the Kodak 2D finish as anything I've found.

[Ramiro Elena]

Get out of here you all! You're just showing of those great lenses :D

Beautiful boards Barry! ;-)

[Steven Tribe]

Jay, you are lucky in that the 2D and the version of the Century Studio you have match fairly well in appearance - I didn't know these were made in other than mahogany. I have the "gloss" mahogany version of the Century (Kodak period?) which is why I bother with gloss mahogany boards.

Your pictures remind me that I still need to make some "step down" boards!

Note: My lenses are anonomous!

[goamules]

I do the traditional way of staining mahogany which is to use potassium dichromate. It actually oxidizes the wood, versus staining or dying. It's why old furniture and cameras and such look so nice, and shows the grain so well. It is toxic if so read up on it.

I make my boards out of birch ply, then put a veneer of mahogany on top. They look great and match the traditional finished cameras precisely, because it's the same process....

I finish with a few coats of tung oil.

[John Koehrer]

I believe Birch is considered a softwood and the difference in density is what makes it difficult to stain/dye/color easily.
I just use thin mahogany from Rockler and if needed, laminate it. The problem is if you need wide widths they only go to 5".

[Mark Paschke]

Another item to look into is called Waterlox, its been around since 1909. we use it on all wood finishing including floors. If you use cabinet dyes then waterlox the finish is amazing. Im considering refinishing my Century Grand Studio, I will snap pics of the waterlox

[Ole Tjugen]

I use a black felt-tip pen on the inside - and don't bother about the outside. But my main purpose is to make boards that hold the lenses, not to create works of art...

[Ben Hopson]

I believe Birch is considered a softwood and the difference in density is what makes it difficult to stain/dye/color easily.

Hate to disagree but I believe Birch, which is of the Genus Betula and closely related to Oak and Beech, is indeed considered a hardwood. If a close match is the target I would, as has been suggested, use the same wood as the camera is made from or veneer the boards with that species or one that is very close.

Ben

[Jack Dahlgren]

Hate to disagree but I believe Birch, which is of the Genus Betula and closely related to Oak and Beech, is indeed considered a hardwood. If a close match is the target I would, as has been suggested, use the same wood as the camera is made from or veneer the boards with that species or one that is very close.

Ben

I agree, birch is one of the softer hardwoods, softer than the harder softwoods.

One of the issues with staining is that the grain of most plywood is flat due to the radial slicing process of the veneer. It is not the most attractive grain.

[John Koehrer]

I agree, birch is one of the softer hardwoods, softer than the harder softwoods.

:p

[manet]

To make a lensboard I have used MDF (medium-density fibreboard) - 2 plaques of 3mm thickness sticked . Then, I have covered it with a plating of acajou like the wood of my large format camera Gilles-Faller 18x24.
Next I applied four layers of varnish with fine sanding.

jp

[Steve Smith]

in the UK there's a product Colron (I think made by Ronseal)

I used to think that. They are actually two separate companies.

http://www.colron.co.uk/products/wood-dye

http://www.ronseal.co.uk/home-woodcare/woodstain

EDIT: Just realised how old this thread is!


Steve.

[John Kasaian]

It depends on what its made of. My baltic birch plywood boards are painted black. Mahogany ones are given several coats of laquer, steel wooled in between coats.

[Vick Vickery]

Mine arent nearly so pretty as some shown here, but I just paint them flat black in and out. Sure is easy! :)

[IanG]

Just to confuse you Steve the address and more importantly telephone numbers are identical. Same factory two trade names, common US ownership.

When I wrote initially I was in Turkey so couldn't check, in fact the Colron does have the name Ronseal on it :D

Ian



I used to think that. They are actually two separate companies.

http://www.colron.co.uk/products/wood-dye

http://www.ronseal.co.uk/home-woodcare/woodstain

EDIT: Just realised how old this thread is!


Steve.

[Steve Smith]

Just to confuse you Steve the address and more importantly telephone numbers are identical. Same factory two trade names, common US ownership.

Definitely confusing!

There are two hardware stores near me. One stocks Colron and the other stocks Ronseal. I don't think there is much in common between their finish colours as whenever I go to one shop to get Medium Georgian Oak (my favourite colour for staining pine) I have to go to the other shop instead. And obviously, I never remember which shop I got it from last time.


Steve.

[seawolf66]

You folks do know you can make dyes from nature , beets , blueberry's, raspberry's and other items to stain with:
Most of the stains we have today did start out that way and progressed to what we have today:

[domaz]

Flat black Krylon spray paint.

+1 to this. I spray paint my homemade aluminum boards and it works great. I sand the surface with fine grain sandpaper first then quickly wipe off the dust and immediately spray paint. No problems with the paint coming off yet.