What type of hardwood do you recommend?

[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.


IMG_0790 by Scott --, on Flickr


IMG_0789 by Scott --, on Flickr

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