What type of hardwood do you recommend?

[Foxcelot]

I'm in the process of making my first 4x with 5 view camera. I'm interested in darker woods with wavy appearance.
What type of would did you choose for your projects? Why did you choose it? What was the price of the wood you chose?

[Drew Bedo]

LF cameras have been made from many woods. Traditional woods seem to be Mahogany, cherry. Some walnut. Ebony wood and Teak are tough on tools. I think Burk and James used Beach, but they painted them battleship grey. A dense wood with tight grain is needed. I once had a Rajah 5x7 from India that was in some nice looking tropical wood I'd never seen.


Oak is too coarse, I've never seen Hickory either. Soft woods are n ot used.

My recollection is that there was a thread on wood selection here on LFP not long ago.

[Mark Sawyer]

Burke & James used maple for their cameras. Beech splits too easily, and is dimensionally unstable.

I have an old French camera made from oak, but it's a much finer-grained oak than any modern oak I've seen. Modern mahogany doesn't seem as nice as the old stuff either.

I'd say maple, cherry, or walnut. All can have the nice waves you're looking for, but that varies quite a bit from piece to piece. A good maple is a little hard on the tools too, but I think it might be worth it. Hard (but not impossible) to stain very dark, if you want a dark finish, but beautiful in a yellow or red honey finish! (And then you have to decide, sugar maple, rock maple, tiger maple, birds-eye maple... )

Maple is the most common wood for electric guitars, if you want to consider the finish possibilities. (Camera makers could learn a LOT from luthiers...)

[sumo]

Dark and wavy makes me think of claro walnut.
You probably don't want something too dense if you're concerned with weight. Something around the density of maple or beech is a good target (0.7ish specific gravity).

[jumanji]

Could white ash be recommended? Anybody used it?

[eric black]

mahogany- very even grain which makes the woodworking easy- looks great, light and very attractive once finished.

[Andrew O'Neill]

I made my 14x17 with birch cuz there's a lot of it around and it's cheap.

[Foxcelot]

Thanks for all the replies and input, at the moment I'm deciding between using cherry, mahogany, and walnut. They seem to be pretty dense and durable and they also have a nice dark look that I want. My choice now really depends on availability and price of each.

[Wojtekred]

Jatoba - south american tree,sometimes called Brazilian Cherry(although not a cherry)

[Steve Smith]

Oak is too coarse

I don't agree. I have made a couple of cameras with oak - recycled from old furniture.

If you are new to woodworking, mahogany is probably a good choice.


Steve.

[sumo]

Theres like a bazillion species of "oak" out there. Some are really porous and some can have almost none.
Jatoba is crazy heavy. Durable but you'll end up with a heavier camera. Mahogany is a good choice because although it generally looks bland (to me anyway) and mybe not the most durable choice, its very dimensionally stable and easy to work. Whatever wood you choose make sure you buy straight stuff and if you can, quarter sawn stuff. You don'twant your camera warping on you creating light leaks and unwanted movements.

[goamules]

Since most of the American cameras I've seen and owned from the 1870s through the 1930s are mahogany, and have been used by generations of photographers, moved around, stored in attics, etc, I'd say mahogany is very durable.

[Steven Tribe]

They are plenty of previous threads (some extremely recent) which are looong and have covered the subject extensively, including sources.
What is called Mahogany these days (since 1945) is only very occasionally a near relative to the commercially extinct real article.
For real wood go for recycling sources - the genuine article and well seasoned to boot!

[Colin Graham]

I always thought curly cherry or pear would be nice. I actually found some fiddleback maple once (someone had cut it into firewood blanks) but the 4x5 folder I made from it looked a little garish when I was done. Since then I've made a point of using less-figured wood like quartersawn cherry or mahogany on camera projects, but that's just personal taste. Cherry is probably the best compromise that I've found between tight grain, light weight and stability. But it's fun to browse and I try to keep an eye out for interesting stuff at the lumber yard. If you have access to it, lignum vitae is a very dense self-lubricating wood that is great as an inlay for bearing surfaces.

[John Jarosz]

On this subject there always will be a wide variety of opinions.

I feel walnut is too brittle as it easily splits. If you do use it make sure you pre drill all screw holes.

I have used cherry and mahogany for guitars and my 8x20 conversion. I use Cuban Mahogany from Blue Moon Exotic Wood (http://www.bluemoonexoticwood.com/cuban-mahogany) . Their Mahogany worked very well for solid body electric guitars - and they can provide big billets if needed. Mahogany is somewhat open grained and it may take more effort than other woods to get a furniture-like finish if that's what you are after.

Hard Maple is also very tough, but it can be very difficult to work with and it's heavier that most woods. Tools must be sharp.

John

[linhofbiker]

I was planning to make a 5x7 from plans in View Camera magazine from the 90's. Rather than used a hardwood I found a supplier who sold me a small quantity of ABS plastic sheet of 3/8" thickness. ABS sheet is very expensive compared to wood, but has the advantage of being impervious to just about anything, and can be cut/routed like hardwood. I have lost the plans and have not built the camera yet, just one more project to do now that I am retired.

[Wojtekred]

ABS is great BUT I dislike the idea of LF camera made of plastic...(I like exotic wood and brass myself)
BTW,how do You want to cut it? CNC router?

[Drew Wiley]

Highly figured wood is nice if you want a camera to sit on the fireplace mantle rather than
use, like some of Wisner's fancy pieces, but it will be harder to machine and less dimensionally stable. ABS is dirt cheap and will attract dust like bears to honey. If you want plastic pick a relatively dimensionally stable grade of fiber-reinforced phenolic like Garolite, then hire an mahout and elephant to help you carry it around. Plain dry cherry is abundant, lightweight, and easily shaped. Don't expect to just go out and buy the kind of
mahogany that fine cameras are made of. Oak would be relatively worthless. But whatever.
I'd rather use a dimensionally stable laminate, that is, if you can tolerate the Scandanavian
look of wood. I'm too buy shooting to care about whether the camera is fashionable or not.

[Marc B.]

On the subject of sourcing wood for cameras, ideas from a previous thread...old pianos.
Probably not too many grands or baby grands out there, but lots of old spinets/uprights.

Besides the species of wood, you want very dry, stable wood.
Fine furniture makers won't use wood that hasn't seasoned for at least 5-7 years.
Wood for music instruments...longer still, 12-20 years is not unusual.

Old piano wood will meet all the requirements for a beautiful, and stable camera.

Marc

[John Koehrer]

Small pieces of hardwood(3-4" X36") can be had from "Rockler Tools"

[Traumasp]

I've always liked the look of spaulted fruitwoods. Not sure if that portends badly for actual function, or for fabrication, but it's also lighter in weight. Maple comes in many handsome figured forms too. If you want a sexy exterior, and you feel good about workability, the interior can be light-sealed outta view.

I would avoid cvg doug fir - which looks grand, but that's because I can't seem to avoid having it want to peel like string cheese. Oh, and it's not all that great for the outdoors either.

Hey, get some hardwood decking cutoffs and take 'em to a furniture shop for ripping and planing. Once you got your thicknesses you could do the laminating and jointery yourself??

[Steve Smith]

how do You want to cut it? CNC router?

That's the best way.


Steve.

[evan clarke]

Aluminum and carbon fiber woods..

[Steven Scanner]

I've made an un-acurate LF camera with 2x2's and plywood sheets. I think it was birch or poplar. The reason I used those materials is that first I had it laying around the garage and second, I wanted something to play with, not a precise instrument. Also, the tools I used where saw, grater, sandpaper and hammer. I don't have a lathe or CNC router, so I have to make due with what I've got. Design wise I had to find ways to work the wood with "primitive" tools. I made the joints and sliders out of wood but I have been looking for alternatives. Sliders from kitchen cabinettes, stock hinges, Ikea joints. If you don't have the materials, tools and/or funds, you've got to think outside the box.
If I don't have to look at what tools to use and with enough funds, I'd go for walnut or mahogany, but in a metal casing and joints to keep the structure solid. If you look at vintage precision instruments you see that the structure is mainly metal and wood is used to cover up or box in. That said, with all due respect: how acurate does the structure have to be? How much is the structure alowed to expand/shrink?

[Leszek Vogt]

I like variety of woods, but if I was to build one....it would likely be out of purple heart (of course, curly type). One day I walked into a hardware place and noticed this 12' plank (of what I just described)....and deep in my heart I knew that if I walked away, I'd never see it again. What's interesting is that I bounced around some v. esoteric lumber places in the last 30+ yrs from Seattle to San Diego...and this was the first time I saw curly purple heart. The wood (acacia type) has likely oxidized by now, so it might be more maroon/purple in color. Yes, it's dense, but I doubt more so than maple. In any case, I'd add some contrasty hardware...whether brushed alum or anodized....whatever. Indeed, I'd pay attention to the moisture content of the wood....it should be close to fine furniture (around 8%)...and that normally takes 3-4yrs.

Camera that's made with some superb dovetails, being a design statement, and having a really nice finish....oh, did I mentioned enjoyment ? it's not much different than fine (but functional) one-of-the-kind piece of furniture. It becomes a craft and art...and there is nothing wrong with being able to look at it daily with satisfaction and pride. Hopefully this 'box' will become instrumental in making great photographs....and not just an adornment.

Les

[Cletus]

I've never tried to build a camera, but I have done a fair amount of fine woodworking in my days. Big second on ensuring you have good, properly seasoned wood, regardless of the species you choose. Stripping on old piano, or some wood trim from an old building could be good, cheap sources for some well seasoned and stable material.

Just about any type of "wood" will change, shrink, warp, or crack as it ages and becomes seasoned and I don't think you'd want to go to the trouble of constructing a camera, only to have a large crack form, or a hopeless distortion occur after a year or two - or even a few months.

If I were building a camera, I'd try to find some of the aged Macassar Ebony that Ebony uses and get a good set of carbide tools. Absolutely gorgeous grain and sheen when oiled properly. It might end up costing you more than just buying a good camera in the first place, but at least you'd have something unique and beautiful that would last you awhile.

[E. von Hoegh]

Thanks for all the replies and input, at the moment I'm deciding between using cherry, mahogany, and walnut. They seem to be pretty dense and durable and they also have a nice dark look that I want. My choice now really depends on availability and price of each.

Whatever you decide upon, get wood that has been properly seasoned, not kiln dried.

[C. D. Keth]

Cherry has long been used for measuring tools and precision pieces because it has pretty uncanny dimensional stability for a natural material. That property would be pretty much null, however, if you chose very figured cherry.

[Kevin J. Kolosky]

I would check with some gunstock blank sellers. Custom Gunsmiths who make very high dollar custom gunstocks for custom rifles and shotguns also insist on wood stability. They cannot afford to work up a stock costing several thousands of dollars so they only use wood that has been drying for quite some time and has been deemed to be stable. The most popular wood used in English or French Walnut, which is a very tight grained wood. Of course, those folks who pay the big money for the custom rifles and shotguns want the walnut that has a lot of figure in it, and they pay for that privilege. But there is lots of french and english walnut around that can be had for a fairly reasonable price. Of course it would have to be resawed to use it for making a camera, but then most wood that you buy for making a camera will have to be resawed as well.

One place that comes to mind is Calico Hardwoods.

http://www.calicohardwoods.com/

Of course there are many others.

[Scott --]

Regarding maple: it's great for this use, and can be easily dyed to just about any color or shade you want. Below are some pictures of a spokeshave I made a few years ago from some curly red maple burl, dyed with a red aniline dye.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8456/7979285488_1e570d508a_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/scott--/7979285488/)
IMG_0790 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/scott--/7979285488/) by Scott -- (http://www.flickr.com/people/scott--/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8445/7979283765_df6abf21e5_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/scott--/7979283765/)
IMG_0789 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/scott--/7979283765/) by Scott -- (http://www.flickr.com/people/scott--/), on Flickr

Don't let color be a deciding factor. Think stability and strength first.

[Drew Wiley]

My gosh! Ebony, purpleheart, Mesquite??? Those are certainly split-prone very heavy materials. Purpleheart doesn't keep it color at all after UV exposure and it a nightmare to
carbide. It is nice and straight. I was looking at some beautiful sticks of it over the weekend, and have worked quite a bit of it myself. There's a lot of old floors with it around
here. Ebony is a camera brand of course, and I own one (though in mahogany). They have
had some problems with end-grain splitting. Need to keep the wood from totally drying out,
with finish refreshment perhaps if the original finish wears off. I've got a customer who just
did over a hundred doors & window in solid ebony - needless to say, the client had a LOT
of money - (that was just for the barn with its seven bathrooms! The guest and main houses are yet to be built!). Mesquite is pretty but very squirrely stuff. If you want another difficult wood that is so heavy it sinks, try mountain mahogany.

[BradS]

There is a very good reason that so many wood field cameras were made of cherry or mahogany (and lately, walnut).
The key characteristics are density and dimensional stability.
Both cherry and mahogany are relatively light weight for a given size (they are lower density materials) and have excellent dimensional stability.

My personal preference is slightly in favor of cherry but, mahogany would be a very close second.

[C. D. Keth]

There is a very good reason that so many wood field cameras were made of cherry or mahogany (and lately, walnut).
The key characteristics are density and dimensional stability.
Both cherry and mahogany are relatively light weight for a given size (they are lower density materials) and have excellent dimensional stability.

My personal preference is slightly in favor of cherry but, mahogany would be a very close second.

+1 to this. There's good reason these woods have been used for this type of thing for a long time. Don't let yourself be suckered into the "pretty wood club" with all of the guys who bought fancy stocked rifles that are either too precious to use and risk a scratch or else too heavy to carry into the woods.

[Leszek Vogt]

Seriously though, quilted mohogany (African, Honduras or from Cuba/Dominican Repub) would likely be most stable and pretty for this project. The dense woods are superb, but they tend to be heavy. But, but but, I'd never walk away from a nicely figured KOA....it would be on par close to mohogany. Purchasing it, that's another story. Several years ago Hawaii stopped the export of this wood....and the price of it went through the stratosphere. Have fun deciding.

Les

[Drew Wiley]

Too much figure on a wood is just looking for trouble if you're thinking of a dimensionally
stable user versus some nice conversation piece on the fireplace mantle. The traditional
correct mahogany was "pattern grade" - plain, highly stable if properly seasoned, and very
difficult to acquire. In this day and age, engineered composites will do a far better job.
Thank you, Dick Phillips for starting the trend of highly functional if homely view cameras!
Cherry is a bit soft, but if you impregnate it with penetrating epoxy, probably the best
ordinary choice. The epoxy will yellow horribly over time, and shouldn't get a lot of UV
when not actually shooting, but with greatly strengthen the material without added wt.

[C. D. Keth]

Too much figure on a wood is just looking for trouble if you're thinking of a dimensionally
stable user versus some nice conversation piece on the fireplace mantle. The traditional
correct mahogany was "pattern grade" - plain, highly stable if properly seasoned, and very
difficult to acquire. In this day and age, engineered composites will do a far better job.
Thank you, Dick Phillips for starting the trend of highly functional if homely view cameras!
Cherry is a bit soft, but if you impregnate it with penetrating epoxy, probably the best
ordinary choice. The epoxy will yellow horribly over time, and shouldn't get a lot of UV
when not actually shooting, but with greatly strengthen the material without added wt.


You're 100% right about highly figured woods. My knowledge in this area comes from rifles and many custom rifle makers won't guarantee stocks of AA and higher figure because it's just not stable or predictable.

Cherry is plenty hard, especially if you pay the extra for wood from older growth trees. I've seen several cherry stocked rifles that are now well over 200 years old. A camera won't be used any harder than a hunting rifle.

[Drew Wiley]

Having worked on both gunstocks and cameras, I'd say a camera is a lot more fussy. A minor dent in the wrong spot and a Graflock back won't fit correctly, or a tiny bit of warp
on the back frame and focus might be off. And at least with a rifle you can get a spare
shot or two off, if there's a bit of imprecision, while the grizzly charges. With a view camera you need to focus really really fast! But that's why my tripod has spike feet, to
function as bayonets! We get ahold of lovely curly cherry here, but it needs a lot of
hand scraping. Heaviest stock I ever made was mtn mahogany. Just dropping the gun
creates a big hole in the earth which the grizzly will fall into before ever reaching you!

[Dan Dozer]

I used Makore on my 8 x 20. Makore is African Cherry I beileve. Looks like a cherry but with the color of Mahogony. Pretty good to work with and not that hard to get.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

"Could white ash be recommended? Anybody used it?"

Yes and yes, as long as it's quarter sawn and straight grained, properly seasoned helps. It is stronger and tougher than white oak, about the same weight. Works well, glues well and finishes well. All around a fine choice.

[Jody_S]

"Could white ash be recommended? Anybody used it?"

Yes and yes, as long as it's quarter sawn and straight grained, properly seasoned helps. It is stronger and tougher than white oak, about the same weight. Works well, glues well and finishes well. All around a fine choice.

Old hardwood flooring can be a good source for ash (and maple, around here; oak further south). If you manage to get an entire room, you can pick and choose the best grain for critical elements, and of course being a 50-100 year-old floor means the wood is as seasoned as you're going to get anywhere. Plus I love recycling, I hate sending stuff like this off to a landfill. I rebuilt my sailboat's tiller using old flooring.

[Craig Roberts]

When i decided to build my 12x20 - I chose Cherry for the hardwood. I have rebuilt several wooden cameras and used Cherry and mahogany as appropriate. Craig