Will Kodak wooden film holders work in Deardorff?

[Old Jim]

I see a sale on ebay for wooden Kodak film holders, and was wondering if they would work in a deardorff. Also who uses wooden?
Thanks
Jim

[John Kasaian]

If they are black and stamped Graflex made for Eastman Kodak they assuredly will. I use them with my 'dorf. There is also an older version that is unpainted except for the light traps and those will also work. but these would be even older than the black wooden ones----and that's pretty doggone old!

I doubt any film holders made by Kodak for, say the Poco or older cameras will fit right, but these would be very uncommon. Another thing to watch out for is warping. I've never had a problem with warping, but if the holders have been stored improperly (like being used for blocking up Aunt Myra's 1926 Buick,) it is possible.

If they are glass plate holders, you'll need a septum of some sort to load sheet film (I'm not sure exactly how this works.) You can identify plate holders because they won't have the hinges at the bottom of the holder. I mention this because you just never know about seller's descriptions on eBay.

If the light traps are screwed on, you can replace leaky felts if you can find directions on how to do it.
Sadly, I've had no luck finding instructions.

If you get them, check them for leaking darkness. Use photo paper for this,

Over the years I've tangled with a few leakers, which I put into a cannibal box. When I gather enough parts I can usually resurrect one of the cannibal queens so she can rejoin my film holder harem. This is a fun, rewarding (considering the cost of 8x10 film holders) project to do on a quiet Winter night.
Watch Young Frankenstein for inspiration if neccesary.

You can make new hinges with gaffer's tape but book binder's tape is way better.

My preferred 8x10 film holders are the black painted wood Graflex Made for Eastman Kodaks and plastic Lisco Regals.
Don't ask me why. I've had other brands that worked OK, I just seem to do better with the black wooden Kodaks and plastic Regals,

Have fun!

[David Lobato]

+1 what John said. My 8x10 wooden holders serve me fine. Also carefully check the corner joints for wide gaps. Also carefully check the dark slides for tiny cracks and corner chips. Either will fog film.

[mdarnton]

Almost all of my holders, 3-1/4x4-1/4, 4x5, 5x7, and 8x10, are wood, and they work fine. Wood holders are ridiculously cheap--you can buy 10, throw out 5, and still be ahead of plastic. Besides. . . .plastic!?!?!?!

[Willie]

Use them and have found one major advantage for them in the winter where I live. No Static Electricity when I draw the dark slide. The newer plastic holders tend to have static and at times it has shown up on a negative. None of the wood holders have shown it.

[John Kasaian]

Four or five will fit nicely in a Hefty Jumbo slide lock plastic bag for protection against dust in the field, The Hefty bags will hold up longer with four instead of five in the bag though. With five holders, the corners will eventually wear the bag out.

[John Kasaian]

The locking ells are easily replaced if missing. Get the proper diameter ell at a real hardware store. They'll be too long but you can cut and bend them to work just fine.

The flaps at the loading end are very thin wood. Handle them with care.

I have a dedicated mini shop vac just for photo gear with the micro attachments. These go on sale every Christmas it seems. With regular vacuuming I seldom have dust issues.

Some of my Kodaks have metal slides, but most have some kind of plastic and these may come with cracks or holes if they lived a hard life.
These can be repaired.
I'll use PC-9 with a little black model paint mixed in. Apply very sparingly and when dry, fair it up with the finest sand paper you can find and buff smooth (think Dremel.)
Sometimes it works, but there are probably other, better ways of doing this.

[Old Jim]

Thanks everyone, I a have a LFPF member offer some for sale, so I am going to give them a try. I appreciate everyones input
Jim

[Randy]

Just a word of caution - I have several wooden 8X10 holders stamped "Folmer Graflex Corp" and "Eastman Kodak Co. F. & S. Dept." and "Sterling Film Pat. Oct. 1923" - these holders came with my F&S 8X10 camera (dated to the mid 1920's) and are about 1/4" wider than modern plastic holders - so - I am guessing that they would be to wide to work on an 8X10 camera that uses the modern holders. My camera will accept the modern holders but there is about 1/8" space all around the holder after I center it. If the Dorf 8X10 accepts modern plastic holders (my Fidelity Elites are 23.5cm wide) then it probably would not accept my wooden holders which are about 24.4cm wide, 9mm wider than my modern plastic holders.

[vssoutlet]

+1 on John's comment