Teak, Maple or American Black Cherry wood

[echo-point]

5 x 4 wood types

[Jac@stafford.net]

Almost any wood used in good LF cameras today are stable enough for your lifetime, and for your great-great grandchildren.

Aesthetics - subjective - your choice. I build mine in Cherry with supports in Oak.

[jriosa]

What factors differentiate between types of woods that are chosen by view camera designers ? Which wood types are best or recommended for the manufacture of field cameras in terms of their rigidity and resistance to warping over the years etc. Are teak, maple and cherry woods similar enough in density, grain strength etc. to make this more of an aesthetic choice with modern CNC machining techniques etc. ? ...

Furniture maker here. Teak is much denser, and a bitch to glue. Mahogany is a good choice. Main thing is you want really straight, tight grain. If I had my choice I would use quarter sawn ash. Stable dimensionally, not too heavy, and machines well.

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[Mark Sampson]

When the best-quality wood was cheap and plentiful, the camera makers chose mahogany and cherry. Exactly why, I can't say; someone here will know.
I've had wooden cameras made of maple (Ansco), cherry (Tachihara), and mahogany (Zone VI). They all work.
Ebony made cameras of ebony, Wista has used rosewood, and Rajah made cameras of teak.
For beauty, my 8x10 ROC Carlton was the prettiest- but it was made in the 1890s and I doubt that you can get mahogany like that any more.
I've heard of ones made of pearwood (only a few made) and now people are using plywood... so it seems that there's no single answer.

[Bob Salomon]

When the best-quality wood was cheap and plentiful, the camera makers chose mahogany and cherry. Exactly why, I can't say; someone here will know.
I've had wooden cameras made of maple (Ansco), cherry (Tachihara), and mahogany (Zone VI). They all work.
Ebony made cameras of ebony, Wista has used rosewood, and Rajah made cameras of teak.
For beauty, my 8x10 ROC Carlton was the prettiest- but it was made in the 1890s and I doubt that you can get mahogany like that any more.
I've heard of ones made of pearwood (only a few made) and now people are using plywood... so it seems that there's no single answer.

Wista makes/made their 45 cameras from: cherry wood; rosewood; ebony and quince wood. Not just checking rosewood.

[Peter Collins]

I have checked wood density--maple, teak, cherry--specifically, and American black cherry is the least dense of the three. Maybe you will shave some grams by using cherry. Cherry develops a wonderful "chestnut" (cherry?) color as it ages in sunlight, and maybe most light.

[Drew Wiley]

The devil is in the details - what kind of "teak", what actual kind and cut of so-called mahogany. How has it been cured and stored? How homogenous is the wood? For example, plain kiln-dried cherry will be a lot easier to machine and finish than fancy cherry. True pattern-grade Honduras mahogany (if you can find and afford it) will be more dimensionally stable and less likely to warp than other so-called mahoganies. Hope you've got at least twenty years to slow cure it, however. Get a handbook on hardwoods, talk to some serious woodworkers. CNC is better for plywoods, not in my opinion for typical dimensional hardwood fabrication. Have fun.

[Leszek Vogt]

Sure, density of the wood is one thing, both cherry and mahogany tends to be more stable after the drying/kiln process (huge plus). Getting the wood to proper moisture level (as normal furniture) is v. important, as well. Some woods are little more difficult to deal with such as birds-eye maple (tear out) or cocobolo is quite acidic when it falls on flesh - it can cause a rash. There are work arounds, like using seriously sharp tools or covering your arms with long sleeve shirt...aside from standard lung/eye protection. Good luck.

Les

[Drew Wiley]

Maple is solid but heavy, and tough for a beginner because it's burn-mark prone. I recently set up a dustless (yep) shaper for narrow stock. But if you're not out to win a beauty prize and just care for functionality, don't rule out certain sheet goods. Dick Phillips was the first to use custom plys. I bought one of his first 8X10's, and it has held up wonderfully.

[Drew Bedo]

From what little experience I have had working with wood for sailboat trim: Teak has mineral inclusions INTHE WOOD GRAIN. These inclusions are what makes Teak resistant to insect damage and fungal rot, but cause cutting tools to dull quickly.


Years ago (mid 1990s) I bought a" Baby Deardorff" knock-off at the Houston Camera Show. It was a Rajah from India and the wood was some beautiful tropical hardwood that looked like Rosewood or Cocobolo. Wish I still had it just to look at.