Building a view camera. Which wood you choose? ..

[Zach In Israel]

I know that many of the makers of high end Dobsonian telescopes (Dave Kregie of Obsession etc) Swear by Appleply or Baltic Birch, which are HVHC plywoods. I am planning to get some of that to build a scope, I may try working a camera out of the leftovers (though I think I would want a thinner sheet for a camera)

[Mark Sawyer]

Perhaps it's just a regional (southwestern US) thing, but mesquite would also be a respectable, practical, and aesthetically pleasing choice. For purely aesthetic reasons, I'd like bird's-eye maple or tiger maple, though I suspect both would be a bear to work...

[Ben Chase]

Desert Ironwood. It's hard, it's expensive, it looks cool.

[Alan Davenport]

Which wood you choose? ..

Cherry for photos that are as good as new.
Maple for sweet pictures.
Pine for the soft look.
Oak for photos with intensified grain.
Mesquite to photograph the desert southwest.
Teak for seascapes...

[John Kasaian]

Mahogany salvaged from the back bars of saloons that went out of business during prohibition, of course!

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Hi there,

Walnut, color of your choice
Black ash
Virginia White oak
English Brown oak
Beech
Canarywood
Bloodwood, not Purpleheart
Pearwood
Applewood
Black locust

They all work well and look fine. They are all available on ebay BUT shipping is a killer.

I've never seen New Zealand kauri wood, but at 30,000 years old it should be stable, fabled to have pearlescent streaks throughout the grain. Could be interesting.

[chilihead]

How about buying a Linhof Technica IV and you'll dump the "wood" idea for freakin' ever.

[evan clarke]

"Which wood would you prefer to use for a view camera?"

Aluminum.. EC

[Rob_5419]

Wowsers.

I wasn't expecting so many replies. Thanks everyone.

That's so much to start thinking about. You've really raised my interest to some possibilities I haven't thought about.

Gotta keep on looking and narrow this down now..

[Sandeha]

Sandeha - it's easy to import a block of this stuff, but not through regular suppliers. Where did you buy all your fixtures then? I guess titanium fixtures aren't going to be easy to source (or will blow the budget out).

I bought spirit levels from www.spirit-levels.co.uk, and knobs from www.rosshandling.co.uk ... both were easy to deal with.

The rest of the metalwork on my field camera was industrial brass stock that I picked up from a trade supplier while I was still living in Singapore. There are plenty of non-ferous metal suppliers here in the UK, but the price of brass has probably doubled since then ...