Crown Graphic Restoration - anyone to wood?

[Mike Kovacs]

Has anyone here taken a post anniversary Graphic down to its wood? These were made of mahogany are they not?

I have a battered example here I only paid about $60 for. Leather is in pretty rough shape. I figure it will make a nice field camera if I strip it down and remove the RF. I'm no woodworker but I guess I could sand and refinish the wood quite nicely.

[David Karp]

I have not done it, but I have seen some pages on the web where people have done what you are talking about. Try googling it, I think you will find some examples.

[Mike Kovacs]

I have not done it, but I have seen some pages on the web where people have done what you are talking about. Try googling it, I think you will find some examples.

I have seen this too - but I cannot relocate it for the life of me! (anyone have it bookmarked?)

[Phil]

Here's a Speed Graphic:

http://www.cameraquest.com/nude.htm

[Mike Kovacs]

Doesn't look so good to me. I think a stain and varnish or perhaps a veneer would go a long way for that camera.

There is a nice restoration I found HERE. (http://home.online.no/~gjon/crown99.htm)

[Ernest Purdum]

I have a never completed body shell. It looks like mahogany to me.

[Jim Rice]

I actually think it looks okay. Painting the bare aluminum bed black would help it out a lot.

[Donald Qualls]

Doesn't look so good to me. I think a stain and varnish or perhaps a veneer would go a long way for that camera.

There is a nice restoration I found HERE. (http://home.online.no/~gjon/crown99.htm)

Mike, your Crown wouldn't be quite that ugly -- at least, you'd avoid the nasty metal parts on the right side covering the bottom end of the focal plane shutter, since your Crown doesn't have the FPS. I do rather like the teak overlay, though; I guess you could do the same on the bed, polish up the hardware, and have a nice camera. It'd be tempting to do the front standard mods to allow bidirectional tilt and front swings, too, especially if you anticipate more use with landscapes and architecture than hand-held press shooting. ;)

[Frank Petronio]

I am a very lazy and incompentent woodworker but I did one a few years back. I removed the side rangefinder and added a 1/32-inch plywood patch along with a lot of wood patch and painted it with a dull red enamel and it looked great -- not too loud, but actually very classy. At least as classy as a Graphic can be. Another camera I wish I had kept. The resale value was less than a crappy original tho.

[Mike Kovacs]

Not so concerned about resale since I intend to keep it. The movement modifications are tempting too. I have a very easy to program (windows interface) CNC mill at work.

With 2-3 weeks of leftover holidays to burn between now and Dec 31, I should have some time to devote to restoring a few cameras.

[David Karp]

Having that CNC machine at work, and the ability to use it -- Awesome. I'll bet you have some pretty cool custom accessories.

[Frank R]

I stripped a Crown of its leather. Decent mahogany underneath, but little chunks of it were missing. The wood was meant for rot resistance, strength and light weight, not for show. Plus, there were a lot of holes left over from the missing hardware.

I plan on veneering over it soon with some mahogany veneer. The iron-on veneer is real easy to use. A ruler, a razor knife, an iron, and some 220 grit sandpaper are all that is needed.

Of course, once the body looks pretty I will have to repaint the spring back to bring it up to standards. And then their are those mods to the front standard.

Hmmm... this is turning into a bigger project than I thought.

[Mike Kovacs]

I'll keep the group posted when I have some time to work on the project.

There is another nice benefit to the CNC mill as well - its not too much more work to churn out copies if I mill some new parts to increase the available front standard movements. I don't know what level of interest there would be nor the price people will stomach.

[Frank Petronio]

If someone made a good >$50 kit to hot rod a Crown with easy to use front tilt (and maybe more rise?) I think you would have a nice little 100-200 order per year business there.... But if my opinion counted so much I'd be rich myself.

[Mike Kovacs]

I'll have to keep that in mind although I'm probably far too busy to do this. Work might also wonder where all that machine time is going...

[Glenn Thoreson]

Mike, I did a 2X3 baby Speed Graphic that was a totally moldy piece of junk. It turned out pretty nice. I removed the plating on some of the brass pieces and polished and lacquered them, too. New bellows, Graflok back etc. Was it worth it? Well,,, probably not. I like it, though. BTW, when you remove the leather covering, be sure to thoroughly test the dovetail joints for light leaks. I found several on my baby. Wood is Honduran mahogany. Very pretty, if not damaged, stained and/or needing patches. I cut out a template for the lens board this morning.

[65Galaxie]

For forward tilt I just mount the camera on the side tripod socket and use my 3d Bogen head and make the camera upside down. A little clumbsy but it works. Now, what I would like is some forward tilt in the "portrait" mode.

[Glenn Thoreson]

On a Pacemaker Speed or Crown Graphic, it's not necessary to modify anything to get forward tilt. Rack the lens out to approximate focus, drop the bed, raise the front as far as it goes, then bring the front back until you have the desired tilt. It will be tilted way too much until you bring it back some. Or, as mentioned, you can just mount it upside down.

[Dan Fromm]

Glenn, every time I try the drop the bed and tilt the front standard backwards trick I find that my little Graphic doesn't have enough front rise. This is especially a problem with lenses that make infinity with the front standard towards the front of the outer bed. Any suggestions besides the obvious one that I should get a real view camera too?

Cheers,

Dan

[jongrep]

Doesn't look so good to me. I think a stain and varnish or perhaps a veneer would go a long way for that camera.

There is a nice restoration I found HERE. (http://home.online.no/~gjon/crown99.htm)

New URL: http://jongrepstad.com/building-a-large-format-camera/refurbishing-a-crown-graphic-camera/

http://jongrepstad.com/

Jon Grepstad