Wista 4x5 wood repair

[Bodforce5]

Hi,
Just bought a Wista 4x5. Small damage on the back, nothing to worry about really but I would like to repair it.
Any ideas about how to repair the missing/broken wood section here?

[Eric Biggerstaff]

Send it to Richard Ritter, he is great and his pricing is very reasonable.

[Bodforce5]

Hi Eric,
Is this something I shouldn't attempt at home? I'm fairly handy with fixing things.
Thanks

[Eric Biggerstaff]

heck no, go for it. If you find it not going well, give Richard a call

I am no woodworker so when mine take a tumble, they head to richard in Vermont

[Bodforce5]

Just looked at his website. He's a great source. Thanks for that.
Best
Andy

[E. von Hoegh]

Hi Eric,
Is this something I shouldn't attempt at home? I'm fairly handy with fixing things.
Thanks

I'd glue and clamp the broken piece, then dovetail in a piece to replace the missing bit.

[Bodforce5]

Hi,
Sorry, should have stated earlier: I don't have the missing piece. I guess I'm looking for recommendations for a wood filler/epoxy?
Thanks
Andy

[E. von Hoegh]

Hi,
Sorry, should have stated earlier: I don't have the missing piece. I guess I'm looking for recommendations for a wood filler/epoxy?
Thanks
Andy

What I meant was, to get a piece of wood, cut a dovetail into the GG frame where the piece is missing, then fit the new piece of wood into the dovetail. I don't use wood filler.

[John Koehrer]

along similar lines, a 1/8' straight router bit in a table mounted router. Cut a groove all the way across and glue in a similar hunk o' wood ~1/16" & refinish.

[Peter De Smidt]

If you're asking about using wood filler, then I agree with Eric. Send the piece to Richard Ritter. He'll do a first rate job. I had him replace a warped piece on my Kodak D2's front standard, and he did a terrific job. As others have said, this type of repair is best done by replacing the damaged wood with similar wood. If for some reason Richard is out of the question, a local stringed instrument repair person could do it, but they'll probably be expensive.

[Daniel Moore]

If you're just looking for a quick cosmetic fix you can mix up some 5 minute epoxy and mix it with about 40% maple wood dust from 220 grit sandpaper. Dam up the edge with tape and overfill a little bit so it's rounded above the surface. Close to it's cured point but not quite there yet, it'll be easily shaved in successive passes with a sharp chisel or single sided razor blade. The sharper the tool the more care required to keep from nicking the existing finish. The perfect tool is a well honed 1" wide chisel with the final shaving pass done right on the wood finish surface as a guide. If the filler starts to pull out in tiny micro-fractures you waited too long. It's not the end of the world but you'll find shaving it when it's soft results in a smooth surface. Holding the chisel at an angle and rotating through the slice will minimize the fracturing from waiting until it's hardened. A couple practice runs are beneficial to get this down. Using a sheet of somewhat worn sandpaper will help keep it's grit out of the mixture which will keep the chisel sharper. As for refinishing, the epoxy will not take oil but an oil/varnish will both help hide remaining scratches and leave a minute layer of varnish on the epoxy to help it blend in. Similarly, if you cared to sand the whole area of repair a rubbed on oil/varnish will do a good job of matching the existing finish. If you use cherry dust for the filler it'll invariably result in a too dark mix, thus the maple.

All that said, if you're adept with a chisel, paring out a recess and leaving any exposed end grain pared on a 45° angle and gluing in a new patch of cherry would be a good way to go.

Myself, I would be bothered to see any patch and would pattern rout the entire area to 1/32" deep, carve and fill any damage below that depth with cherry, then lay on a precisely fitted veneer with a non water based glue like gorilla glue to keep the veneer from curling and refinish the new wood with tung oil/varnish.

[Scott --]

My only deviation from Daniel's well-thought process would be to use hide glue (now available pre-mixed) on the veneer, rather than Gorilla. Gorilla, and poly glues in general, need moisture to cure, and the reaction produces a foam-out that would (in my estimation) make for difficult clean-up on a veneer.

[IanG]

Well my Wista 45DX had a serious knock back in the 80's when a quick release plate failed and it hit the road. 20+ years later it doesn't matter the camera iswearing out, if or rather when I rebuild it then the cosmetic damage might be fully repaired.

Thwe bottom line is whether it's a camear tha'll be used or a museum type piece, I'd do the cosmetic repair and use the camera, later you can do the full restoration.

Ian

[RichardRitter]

Do a little sanding a very fine grit to get rid of the rough edges, get some clear nail polish to apply to the exposed wood and call it a day. You may want to come up with a story of how the back got it's marks from big foot. Just remember he ate the film.