72 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE July 2017
I THINK WE WOULD all agree that
the things we look at through our
telescopes are generally beautiful.
The Moon, planets, star clusters,
nebulae, galaxies — all provide a sense
of aesthetic pleasure along with their
intellectual attraction. The telescopes
themselves, though, are most often
utilitarian tubes, or even just open
frameworks reminiscent of scaffolding
around an unfinished building.
Yet every now and then you’ll
see a telescope that rivals the night
sky itself for its sheer eye-stopping
beauty. Brent Burton has built such an
instrument. Made of several different
species of exotic hardwoods, with an
inlaid dragon swirling up the mount,
this scope is a panacea for cloudy days.
Who cares what’s in the sky when this
gorgeous creation is set up right there in
front of you, begging to be admired?
And as if the scope weren’t enough,
Brent has built an accessory tray to
match it. Together they rival Saturn as
the main attraction at a star party.What made Brent decide to build
such a vision? In his own words: “I love
woodworking and I love astronomy.
Seemed like a match made in heaven.”
The scope took about a month to
build, working on it every day. The tray
took about as long, mostly in carving the
accessory tray's hand out of ironwood.
He used the project to keep himself busy
when his family was abroad to visit his
in-laws. Brent reports that “Half the fun
was actually finding all the right exotic
woods used in the construction of the
scope and learning how to best work
with the wood with the limited tools I
had in my one-car garage.”
The scope uses an eclectic mix of
spalted curly maple, walnut, western
pine, beefwood, curly eucalyptus,
African bubinga, bloodwood and various
exotic burlwoods. The tray incorporates
Samoan ifilele, ironwood, curly maple,
African bubinga and bloodwood.
The inlaid dragon is made of African
bubinga and Amboyna burlwood. To
make it, Brent first drew out a pattern,then cut the inlay on a scroll saw, traced
the shape on the wood to be inlaid and
routed that out with a Dremel tool.
Once he got it to fit well, he glued it
in and sanded flat the inlay. Any gaps
he filled with wood glue mixed with
sanding dust from the inlay wood.
That’s the only pattern used on
either the scope or the tray. Brent says,
“A lot of people ask where I got plans
or if I made plans for it before I started.
I’ve never made plans or ever put much
onto paper before I get started on my
projects. I just think of it in my head,
start building, and make adjustments as
I go to make it work. I actually see them
as mental exercises to get my creative
juices going.”
The optics came from a 100-mm
f/4 Orion SkyScanner. Brent took
the primary mirror, mirror cell and
spider assembly from the old scope and
integrated them into the wooden OTA.
He also reused the Teflon bearings and
the altitude bearing.
The focuser started from a solid
block of claro walnut hollowed out to
accommodate the metal focuser tube,
bearings, and drive shaft of a standard
Crayford. The end plate is of African
bubinga. Brent reports that “It all works
really well and is as smooth as any
other Crayford I’ve used.”
Brent admits that this scope is more
of a showpiece than an observing scope,
but it does work as well or better than
the original SkyScanner he got the
optics from. And it turns heads at every
star party he takes it to. He reports:
“People’s reactions are mostly of
amazement and admiration. Sometimes
it can be rather embarrassing. It sort of
makes me feel like a celebrity at times
when people look at it, leave, and then
bring someone else over to see it. I do
love to see the reactions and smiles it
brings to people that come to look at it,
though.”SThe OTA and mount are made with several
exotic hardwoods, including African bubinga,
bloodwood and various exotic burlwoods.WBrent Burton with his attractive telescope
and accessory tray. ALL PHOTOGRAPHS PROVIDED BY BRENT BURTONBrent’s beauties
Not everything beautiful about astronomy is up in the sky.
ASTRONOMER’S WORKBENCH by Jerry Oltion