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

[Ole Tjugen]

Last time I thought about this, I decided to check out the properties of juniper. It's been used in Norway for millennia, wherever a hard, stable, and rot-proof wood was needed in smaller quantities. Building anything much bigger than a camera from it would be difficult, though..

Besides, I just love the smell of freshly worked juniper - it's an absolute joy to work with for that reason alone!

[John Schneider]

Some random thoughts: Purpleheart is an absolute bear to work; forget about using any hand tools (like a chisel to cut dovetails). It's very difficult to get a furniture-grade finish by planing, as it's so prone to tear out. You'd probably want to invest in a thickness sander if you went that route. Like many of the colorful exotics (greenheart, bloodwood, etc.), purpleheart's brilliant color fades upon exposure to air and light (it turns a dark muddy reddish-brown). In my experience, the exotic that holds its brilliant color best is bubinga, but that tends to be stringy and prone to tension wood.

I haven't checked this under a microscope, but several of the old cameras I've refinished appear to be made of red gum, which is a nice wood to use and has a good balance of properties.

If you want the best strength-to-weight ratio, the clear choice is sitka spruce. As you've talked to luthiers, I'm surprised none have mentioned that, as it's used in many stringed instruments. It does tend to be soft and prone to crush damage, and you'd have to go with aircraft grade to get sufficient quality wood.

I've made some furniture and have talked to many other furniture makers, and most prefer black walnut over all other woods for its near-perfect blend of qualities (power tool cutting, hand tool working, dimensional stability, strength, gluability, figure, etc.). This is probably why black walnut (along with Honduras mahogany) is used so much for modern wooden cameras.

[George Hart]

Rob, I suspect that aesthetics shapes the opinions that many express regarding choice of camera wood. However, I remember how Mike Walker (no connection) responded when I told him that I had a camera made out of ebony. He said that the screws tend to follow the grain, rather than where the manufacturer really wants them to go. To what extent this applies to other woods I cannot say, but Mike solves this problem with his cameras, and other problems including dimensional stability, by using ABS plastic!!!

[Nathan Potter]

I've not made full scale LF cameras out of wood but I've made parts of them (adapters) etc. using South American Ipe from Brazil. I buy it for decks around my house then store the excess for a few years so that it is very dry. It's hard and heavy almost like ebony.
It's also commonly known as Ironwood. At a deck supplier it runs about $3.00 per board foot in 1 X 6 so it is real cheap. I saw it and use a metal mill to shape it.

Also many years ago I used Tamarack (Larch) root stock for parts for a Leitz 4X5 camera mod (front std., rail parts. etc.). It was outstanding to work and relatively light.
But I think the growth form is important. A boat building friend suggested it and claimed that it was the wood of choice for connecting the keel to the ribs. I found some dead tamarack in a bog in Maine and excavated the root structure. The tree had been stunted by the growth conditions and had a very tight annual ring structure (base 6 inches in diameter and about 350 years old). Some of the best wood I've ever worked with.

Nate Potter
Austin TX.

[seawolf66]

when building something that needs to exact and needs not to move much in aspect of expansion and contraction: so one needs to get what is called Quarter sawed wood and with mahogoney that would be Prize cut:
Now for woods my choices would be american Walnut , cherry, and Mahogoney there a couple of others but those three will give you a good start:

[john collins]

Rob,

Properly dried walnut is an excellent choice because of its dimensional stability and, depending on the piece selected, it can be exceedingly beautiful.

[Eric Woodbury]

I made a couple of cherry and cherry/aluminum cameras 25 years ago and they are still together. Cherry is nice to work, easy to get, domestic.

[Colin Graham]

Yeah, purpleheart will oxidize and darken with exposure, although even a penetrating oil finish with keep it from going a dull brown. I have some picture frames I made from purpleheart that are about fifteen years old that are still quite purple and i only used a light coat of penofin on them. They aren't screeching purple like the freshly milled surfaces, but still they're purple.

Pearwood, what a great idea though! That would be a wonderful choice. I've seen some jewelry boxes in curly Swiss pear that are stunning.

[Pete Watkins]

Sorry Rob,
Do you really mean that nobodys told you that Gandolfi have actually made their cameras out of MDF in the recent past (they probably still do, despite the carconagenic properties of the stuff). Imaging some geezer in a hundred years time sanding down the antique field camera that he's just bought in Portobello Road only to find out that it's made of compressed cardboard. This was brought up on APUG some years ago and some punter defended Gandolfi by saying that they used "marine quality" MDF. I've gotta confess that we don't see many MDF boats cruising along The Coventry Canal, in fact the next one will be the first!
Didn't I hear of a company in The States who employed a bloke to go around buying old pianoes to use the mahogany for camera manufacturing?
Best wishes,
Pete.

[mrladewig]

I've built some lens boards out of Bubinga. Very sturdy it seems and also quite nice looking. Very heavy though.