[LargeFormat] re tripods

[Jim Hemenway]

Philip:

5/8" dowels may be strong enough for 4x5 but I wouldn't use them for a
larger camera... maybe 3/4" or 7/8".

Try a hardware store for ferrules made for wooden canes. They're getting
harder to find because of the aluminum canes used nowadays.  Go to an
area where there's a lot of old folks.  The last time that I bought any,
(7+ years ago) I found them at a hardware store near Coolidge Corner,
then the "old lady capital of the world"... in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Actually, the rubber tips sold for canes are easier to find and would
probably do just as well.


-- 
Jim - http://www.hemenway.com



"philip.lambert" wrote:
> 
> I would be glad of some practical advice how to update an early tripod
> unpacked this morning (ebay), whose legs each consist of a pair of oak
> laths
> bracketed together, pivoted at the top beside the tripod bush and
> clamped at
> the foot to retain the sliding lower legs.  At first I thought the
> latter
> were made from straight beech but when I put my glasses on I found
> they were
> made of rusting recycled Iron-age spears 5/8" diameter, 30" long and
> quite
> nasty at one end but rubbery at the other.
> The point on which advice is sought is whether I can replace this old
> iron
> with wooden 5/8" dowel or ramin, lighter and longer than the
> originals.
> This, if it works, would give me a higher tripod and lighter.  There
> is no
> central column, just a jammed pan and tilt head easily replaced by one
> of my
> Manfrotto doorstops.
> If wood works for the lower leg, what do I make the bottom ferrule out
> of?
> Should I use a brass round screw head or would a point make a better
> job?
> If so, how would I contrive one?
> Thank you for your support. Philip