Using Cedar wood for building a camera

[[Maarten]]

As Cedar is quite lightweight, I was wondering if this would be a good idea to build a camera using this. It is thermally stable, can cope with different humidities (as I read on the net), only disadvantage might be it is not hard wood.
Does anyone knows something about this?

regards
Maarten

[Steven Tribe]

Looking through my "wood" book, my conception that Cedar is a very unspecific term is more than supported!

There are more than 15 species listed. From pencil cedar to "stinking" cedar. Some are good - others are bad.

[[Maarten]]

Ok, I was aware there were different types, but not that many. Would it be a big effort to give me the names of the good types to use?
Apparently it is only the cedar wood from deciduoustree-type which is good, not the conifer type. And that only keeps the Northern American cedar in the running?

greets
Maarten

[cosmicexplosion]

What most commonly is known as cedar and to which I think you refer is the timber used on doors windows and saunas us completely unsuitable as is very soft timber and not very strong.

Apparently Australian red cedar is. Different story and would be ideal.

[Tim k]

Sure you could. But not the best choice. While it might be lighter, I bet the weight savings are insignificant. It's not going to hold a small screw very good. And I don't think you could get a back to hold together. But the bugs would never eat it. Just be boring and go get some cherry. It's actually pretty lightweight.

[Andrey Donchev]

If it is light it is soft. Soft is not good for camera. There are a lot of things to consider when you are choosing a wood for a camera. The most important its dimensional stability in time. Is it prone to absorb moisture, how coarse is its grain. As example here I can point the Oak. Very hard, very stable dimensionally, almost null moisture absorption, bit its grain is very coarse. Chose something traditional. Don't reinvent the wheel. The Cherry is good enough, the Walnut is better, but more expensive, the Mahogany is much better but its scarce, expensive and in danger, the Ebony is much much better but its much scarce, much more expensive and in greater danger.

[E. von Hoegh]

As Cedar is quite lightweight, I was wondering if this would be a good idea to build a camera using this. It is thermally stable, can cope with different humidities (as I read on the net), only disadvantage might be it is not hard wood.
Does anyone knows something about this?

regards
Maarten

Aircraft grade spruce would be a better coice, if you must use a softwood. The North American cedar is valuable mainly for it's resistance to rot and moth larvae.
But, as has been pointed out, there are other woods which are better than cedar - or spruce - in all respects.

[Simon Benton]

Cherry is one of the best woods for cameras. Strong, stable and not too heavy.

[Steven Tribe]

I could give you some names, but I doubt they would make much sense to your supplier! The knowledge of the average timber stockist has fallen by huge amounts in the last 30 years. Hard wood suppliers are very few and they concentrate on high demand items - oak, ash, teak (often only 2nd/3rd quality these days) and rot resistant tropical species.

Cherry is a very variable wood, sometimes very colourful - but often grey and uninteresting. Camera makers picked out selected timbers. Other fruit tree wood can be used if you can find a suitable size of seasoned stock.

European walnut is very good. My current stock of walnut comes from a neighbour's garden, not an enormous tree, but with useful lengths and widths.
What is called "mahogany" in the trade these days is not the genuine article.
I have seen various lengths dimensions of America Walnut on sale in hobby shops in Europe. These are well finished and with perfect grain and would save a lot of time in manufacture.

[Peter Gomena]

B&J made a lot of cameras out of maple. Not the lightest, but hard.