How do you finish homemade wood lensboards?

[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

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...







d

[Jay Decker]

[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.