Wooden Telescope on Craigslist Update
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rayc...@gmail.com
Aug 2, 2026, 7:04:51 PM (21 hours ago) Aug 2
to The Astronomy Connection
I just came back from looking at this.
First of all, it ain't a 10"--it's built around an 8" f/5 primary.
The mirror is full thickness, and I doubt you could clean it up, so you'd have to replace it ($270 for GSO f/5 on Agena Astro. e.g.). Couldn't tell the maker of the primary, as there's no etchings on the edge and the mirror was glued to its cell. The diagonal and 2" focuser look fine.
The woodwork looks great! No weathering; does not need refinishing. The tube is lighter than I imagined it to be. There's some fixing-up to be done, but not much: the tube rings need more pressure to hold the tube from slipping down, and the ground board has an oversized thrust bearing for the pivot bolt (an unusual, excellent addition for a homemade Dob. Astro Systems used to sell kits for this feature). But somehow this bearing fell out of the ground board, so needs to be reattached. The staves of the tube are mahogany, maple, and white oak.
So, yeah, it could be fixed up and be a beautiful, useful scope once again. You would not have the bragging rights of having made it, but you could say you resurrected it--almost as good, IMO.
I did tell the current guardian of this scope that he was asking too much and to take proper pix with it oriented correctly and change the size to 8"/F5.
I offered him $100. He politely declined.
Ray Cash
Petaluma, CA
First of all, it ain't a 10"--it's built around an 8" f/5 primary.
The mirror is full thickness, and I doubt you could clean it up, so you'd have to replace it ($270 for GSO f/5 on Agena Astro. e.g.). Couldn't tell the maker of the primary, as there's no etchings on the edge and the mirror was glued to its cell. The diagonal and 2" focuser look fine.
The woodwork looks great! No weathering; does not need refinishing. The tube is lighter than I imagined it to be. There's some fixing-up to be done, but not much: the tube rings need more pressure to hold the tube from slipping down, and the ground board has an oversized thrust bearing for the pivot bolt (an unusual, excellent addition for a homemade Dob. Astro Systems used to sell kits for this feature). But somehow this bearing fell out of the ground board, so needs to be reattached. The staves of the tube are mahogany, maple, and white oak.
So, yeah, it could be fixed up and be a beautiful, useful scope once again. You would not have the bragging rights of having made it, but you could say you resurrected it--almost as good, IMO.
I did tell the current guardian of this scope that he was asking too much and to take proper pix with it oriented correctly and change the size to 8"/F5.
I offered him $100. He politely declined.
Ray Cash
Petaluma, CA
Richard Navarrete
Aug 2, 2026, 7:12:51 PM (20 hours ago) Aug 2
to sf-ba...@googlegroups.com
Thanks for the update, Ray. I hope someone will give it a good home.
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