Boston Deardorff?

[Dave Wooten]

Any info or reviews?

[Alan9940]

A Google search doesn't reveal much other than it's available for pre-order through Catlabs of JP. Perhaps it's something he commissioned to be built? I'd really want to know who's doing the actual build. Sure puts a smile on my face that I bought a real V8 Deardorff in the early 80's for a whole lot less than what they're charging.

[martiansea]

Description on the site is it's a new camera cobbled together from NOS Deardorff parts.

[Tin Can]

I think he bought all parts and copyright from TN

Interesting newer source of pricing data

[Drew Wiley]

Wasn't even the previous round a somewhat distant cry quality-wise from the old classic versions? Even acquiring the right type of long-cured pattern-grade mahogany would seem to be a challenge; that kind of thing tends to get hoarded. It's certainly not being cut anymore. Not just any species or cut of mahogany is equal.

[Jim Noel]

I agree with Drew about the quality of the different builds.

[RivetGun]

I talked to CatLAB over a year ago and they mentioned they were able to build brand new 8x10 Deardorffs but not in the 4x5 size.

[jnantz]

Catlabs is blazing a trail!

[Greg]

Even acquiring the right type of long-cured pattern-grade mahogany would seem to be a challenge; that kind of thing tends to get hoarded. It's certainly not being cut anymore.

When I needed some. my source was to buy (high) quality mahogany furniture from the late 1940s. Right now have the option to acquire a bedroom set sold around 1949, but resourcing the wood from this very fine bedroom set is bothering me.

[martiansea]

...but resourcing the wood from this very fine bedroom set is bothering me.
Yeah, unless you absolutely need that specific wood for something extremely important, it seems like vandalism to destroy perfectly good furniture for some fancy wood. Would be a different story if the furniture had already been ruined somehow and you were re-using it to make it something useful again.

[Drew Wiley]

That's why some have switched to black walnut. But even that needs to be properly cured, cut, and sealed if it's going to be dimensionally stable. At least the drying of walnut goes rather fast, instead of taking a couple decades like real Caribbean "(Hondouras") mahogany. That was once used that for masons level due to its superb dimensional stability. After that was gone, the knockoffs using lesser mahoganies would warp or bend in a matter of weeks in a humid or moist environment. So next, special laminated woods were used - much better - it took about a whole two month more for them to warp! It got downright silly when they got equipped with electronics level and angle sensors advertised for being accurate within a degree, when the level itself was so bent that it looked like it had been used for a crowbar.

[FrancisF]

When I needed some. my source was to buy (high) quality mahogany furniture from the late 1940s. Right now have the option to acquire a bedroom set sold around 1949, but resourcing the wood from this very fine bedroom set is bothering me.


Perhaps you should sleep on it before you make a decision.

[Drew Wiley]

Nowadays it's possible to develop hybrid hardwoods that are not only sustainable and grow fast in otherwise marginalized previously cut areas, but that have very predictable properties in terms of consistency and dimensional stability. I ran picture frame mouldings from one of these products that was engineered as a substitute for mahogany. The only problem with respect to camera usage per se is that it is very dense and heavy (sinks in water), and eats up carbide tooling rather fast. But it does prove what is possible. Likewise, I built a kitchen using a sustainable substitute for African mahogany plywood that is almost indistinguishable if given just a tiny slip of penetrating transoxide colorant, which, unlike dye stains, doesn't fade. Then there are these newer laminates of carbon fiber and lighter hardwoods like Chamonix uses.

[John Kasaian]

IMHO the world would be much better off if Laban made more baby Deardorffs to learn the trade and inherit the company

[Oren Grad]

The long general discussion about Catlabs has been moved to its own thread in the Buyer/Seller Advisories subforum. Further discussion here of their Deardorff offering is fine.