How do you finish homemade wood lensboards?

[Ramiro Elena]

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

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.

[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