The new Barrel for my 14" Ektar??!!

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Sometimes I come up with the craziest ideas?? I decided to build a barrel for the Ektar elements I have. I have plenty of Walnut ( gotta love it) so I decided to make a barrel complete with a waterhouse slot. I've got the stops from my Voigtlander Hybrid that I used as a guide and put it together. It matches the finish on the 8x20 and 11x14 Walnut cameras I built. I need to make stops from F-32, 45 and I'm going to do F-64! I have the others. From now on I think I should go by "Mr. Walnut??!!!" Still need to blacken the inside of the barrel and tighten the elements and then she is done. Check it out and let me know what you think? Am I crazy or what???

Jim

[Frank Szabo]

Jim: By trade, I'm a diemaker. I doubt if I ever would have thought of using wood for a lens barrel, probably would have used 7075AL for the job but - if I recall, walnut is fairly stable. Not sure how stable, though.

No matter - it looks good - and different. If I ever see a guy wandering around with a wooden-barreled lens ...

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Frank, must be nice to be a diemaker! I could never find a shutter or a barrel so I decided to give it a try. I'll know how it works when I test it out.

Jim