What wood for a tripod?

[Greg_E]

I got my order of Red Oak from Ken Craft hardwoods a few days ago, and started to cut and assemble a tripod. The Oak was leftover 1 5/16 inch by 3 foot "furniture squares". Considering that it was sitting on the shelf and not custom cut for me, it was incredibly straight! Only one piece had a little twist, and of the others the most curve was about 1/8 inch in the middle when 2 pieces were stacked so that the maximum curve from both pieces formed the gap. I would consider that pretty good. I decide that I would start by building a short table top tripod, so I cut a bunch of those pieces in half.

Let me say one thing... Red Oak that is 1 5/16 square is going to make an extremely strong tripod! I bet it will hold 200 pounds without too much complaining.

I need to order some brass, and find the bolts and screws that I need to finish this and the full size tripod when that order arrives.

 

[Earl Dunbar]

I know next to nothing about woods, but the kneeling thwart of my canoe is made of butternut. The builder stained it a warm brown, and it is absolutely beautiful. It's in the walnut family, so seems to have a good strength-to-weight ratio.

 

[Curt]

If I were to make one I would use Ash or Spruce. Spruce is what most wood stair stringers are spec'd for. I used Spruce for my second story stairs, it is straight free of knots and very stable, not to mention a very nice wood to work with. Ash is hard and stable. If you are going to do any turning then I would suggest getting a sample of both and try it out. I have a Berlbach and it is a beauty to work with and look at.

Curt

 

[Greg_E]

Ash is also a lot cheaper than many other hardwoods. The full size tripod will be made from Ash.

 

[bogeyes]

recycle old furniture

Ever thought of buying an old cupboard or wardrobe at a junk auction, the wood will be well seaoned and dry. Mahogany or beech would be fine, it would be a good way to recycle old furniture.

 

[Loose Gravel]

It would be well seasoned and the like, but cupboard wood is not selected to perfect grain. Tripod wood, at least the legs, needs to be absolutely straight and true grain. It needs to look like uni-direction plywood with parallel grain from one end to the other. Imperfections in this structure are weak points. It is the imperfections in ash that makes a baseball bat break. Good ash became so limited that only the majors could get the good bats and now the sound of baseball is changed. Use pedigreed wood for tripods.

By the way, as you make your tripod, make an extra leg just in case. It will be so hard to make it later. I've never broken a leg (knock on wood), but setup time is huge for a remake.

 

[Greg_E]

The lumber came in from The Hardwood Store of North Carolina Inc... It's really beautiful, they did a fantastic job with the custom cutting for this project! I would recommend both places for some really great wood.

I'll have to take your advice on the longer Ash tripod for a spare leg, but on the shorter Oak tripod believe me when I say that it's going to be really hard to break. They are 1 5/16 inch thick and only 18 inches long for each section. I really think the tripod will hold 200 pounds when it's done.

See the strength of the Ask 1 inch square pieces, I think I'm going to revise my designs to make it a little lighter. I was going to over build it with four pieces for each leg (and only two sections), but this is strong enough that I think I can use only 3 pieces for each leg.

I think I'm going to use bronze for the clamp bands, it's a little cheaper than brass, and should be stronger. I'm just going to use a simple knob that presses the three pieces together to lock the legs. May not have the same style as a cam lock, but it will be functional. I still need to feet some leveling feet that are the correct materials and size to be used as the legs lock.

When I get a little farther along I'll get some pictures together and start a new thread for the short tripod. The longer one will have to wait until I get the short one finished.