I’m so sorry folks. It’s been too long I’ve been away, multiple telescope projects lying dead or dormant collecting cobwebs, woodlouse and mouse poo in the darkest dingiest depths of my Alladin’s cave I call a garage but is actually a workshop/junk storage yard. Moving around it is like playing tiwster but with lots of sharp and heavy objects ready to smack you on the head the minute you are not looking.

To cut a long story short I dug out some half finished scope stuff, namely my 12in F3.3 OTA. Well it will be an OTA soon!! Right now it looks like a giant plywood Toblerone 6 pack that had it’s innards scooped out by a model aircraft enthusiast.

Here she is. I think it’s a she. Open to suggestion. You can look at her underside for confirmation.

I’m slopping on the PVA solution to seal the insides of the scope. No finesse here, sloppy slop slopping, the more the merrier. PVA is your friend. Short of drinking it to alleviate the stresses of being stuck in the house with your own family 24/7 (who I love very much but in lesser doses) it’s a marvellous substance for bonding, sealing, priming, waterproofing. We’re talking wood here. Don’t go putting any on your toast. It tastes funny. Sort of sweet and vinegar at the same time.

Anyway an esteemed ATM’r who we all know, Guy Brandenburg, advised that I texture the insides of the scope as i’m applying the PVA; that reduces further any stray light once the black paint is applied to the inside walls and increases absorption etc…What we’re wanting to do is ABSOLUTELY maximise contrast in a rich field telescope like this. Blacker than a black hole. I want this OTA sucking in the very matter i’m surrounded by including the snorkel I use when doing planetary observation to direct my warm breath over my shoulder instead of into the optical path.. I exaggerate. A small point to note, I evened out the sawdust more than is in the picture by “stippling” the brush.

I’ve just given it a quick beeswax to protect the OTA wood because i’m working on it presently and this will prevent any staining. It will be properly finished after the dry fit of the mirror cell, secondary, focuser etc.
Beeswax or oil seems to be the way to go though. There’s nothing like the natural feel of wood, the smell, the grain pop out like an excited child dying to show off their latest trick.

And in case you’re wondering how I create a singularity within my garage, i’m using this bad boy. This black is so black, that when is sat down and had conversation with a black hole, the black hole said “damn you’re your black, in fact I can’t even see you, who are you?” The thing replied “I’m BLK3.0 and i’m gonna suck your ass into another universe”. Some clever guy called Stuart Semple invented it and licensed it to everyone except some dude called Kapoor that licensed a color that nobody else could use. Or some shit like that. I’m not making this up, it actually happened.