WHY
WOOD?
Obviously
wood is a beautiful, warm material to work with. The amazing thing is
that it may be the best suited of all
materials for the purpose of holding telescopic optics solidly and
securely in their proper telescopic place.The single purpose of the tube and mounting is to rigidly hold the optical components of a scope in exactly the right place, while allowing the tube to be easily aimed at objects in the sky. This requires a light weight materiel that is as rigid as possible. Wood is ideal because, pound for pound it is stiffer than steel and no other common construction material can match it for strength and light weight.
Wood is self dampening. Vibrations from wind or guiding die out seconds after you find your target. Stars don’t dance around as they do with some metal structures, which can oscillate for minutes.
A tube made of wood instead of metal also neatly solves the problem of heat waves distorting the optical path as the tube cools in the night air.
Some manufacturers try to solve this major distortion problem by coating the inside of their tubes with corklike materials or adding cooling fans. Since this, of course, costs money and adds to the system’s complexity, more often than not, the problem is simply ignored.
Finally, wood is beautiful. It makes our scope as beautiful to look at as it is to look through.
