Mabef Wooden Tripod (MBMA-30), Natural

Beautifully made. Solid beech wood, no cardboard here. All fittings are hand adjustable, no screw driver required. It uses wing nuts and small round flat knob like fittings for adjustments. It tilts continuously from 0 to -3 forward for pastel work. It tilts continuously down from 0 to 90 degrees for painting, drawing or watercolor work. This easel can be used for a full range of painting and drawing media.This easel CAN handle very small canvases from about 4.5" to 21.75 inches in height. Both the Top Mast and the Bottom Bar are adjustable to handle this range of canvas sizes. The 5 holes on either side of the drawing board allow the bottom bar to be moved up as needed. The 5 holes are spaced 2 inches apart vertically. Repositioning the bottom bar and adjusting the top mast as needed, allow canvases as small as roughly 4.5 inches and up to 21. 75 inches to work on the M34 easel.NOTE: Be Careful when selecting a new tabletop easel. Check for the MINIMUM and the MAXIMUM canvas size. Its important that canvas can be held securely to avoid moving while painting. On most H and lectern style tabletop easels, the bottom rest is not moveable. A lot of these easels have a minimum canvas size of 18 inches due to this limitation. I liked the Mabef best because it did not have this issue for common small canvas sizes like 11"x14", 12"x12", 9"x12", 8"x10", 8"x8". With a few simple adjustments they all fit on the MABEF.

I received this easel two days ago and have used it for a couple of watercolors and drawings. I like it.Construction. The construction seems sturdy. It's made mostly of solid clear wood that is mostly joined by brass-colored screws and bolts. Edges are beveled. The backboard is made from 5-ply plywood that is screwed into the solid wood frame and has nicely finished edges, beveled on both sides. The sizing of all parts seems appropriate; it is not flimsy or unstable.Finish. It seems to have some sort of matte/oiled finish; the entire easel is adequately sanded, though it's rougher than furniture grade. In the future, I might touch up the sanding in some places for complete smoothness.Usability: It is more comfortable than drawing or painting on a flat tabletop. I like that the angle of the back support is continuously adjustable and that the adjustable (and removable) upper rail can extend far, and is wedged so that it can hold a large pad or canvas. The ledge at the bottom is deep (protruding about 4 cm) and is shaped like a wedge to keep stuff from falling out. For me, this is too deep for comfortable drawing, but I remedied that by placing a book on the easel to raise my drawing board to a more comfortable depth. It also easily folds flat.Value. I wanted a solid, well-constructed, easel for drawing and painting. The materials, construction quality, and finish are notably superior to a less expensive easel from a different manufacturer that I returned. I'll be keeping this one. This easel serves my needs and is a good value.

The best thing about this easel is that the shelf is nice and chunky and can be set at different heights for really small work. I just did some 5”x5” panels for a small works exhibit and I can brace my hand and wrist nicely. It has nice brass hardware and is light weight but sturdy. There is a similarly made beechwood desktop easel at hobby lobby for a fraction of the price but it lacks these features. This easel is small but can accommodate a larger drawing board or canvas so it’s nice for a smaller workspace. The flat board part is slightly warped and my work rocked slightly but it’s not drastic, you can put something behind it. Don’t start measuring it or you will find that everything doesn’t line up perfectly. I think the easel should really be priced under a hundred dollars. I contacted Maybeth with these concerns and they have not responded so customer service is non existent if you should need it.

I used this tripod to make a floor lamp out of an old outboard gas can. I ordered other tripods and they were junk!!! The gas can itself is quite heavy at over 8 lbs, then I wired in a working voltmeter, and crafted a custom 14 inch lampshade out of a used burlap coffee sack. All told the weigh on this thing is well over 10 lbs. I added three turnbuckles to it not because I felt it needed it, but more for the aesthetics of it. I am making more lamps and will continue to use this tripod...it's the best one I've found. Oh...and it smells good too. There's that!

I bought this to place an existing telescope on it. It is not designed for a telescope but it is designed to place a painters box on it. It doesn’t fit my need.

I love this little tripod; great little option for these decorative movie lights. I was going to make my own but I’m so glad I just bought this one. You won’t regret it! Very sturdy and well made.

My lectern arrived damaged and this is apparently the only way to give feedback to Amazon. The outer box was fine. Inside was a damaged and haphazardly taped up product box. Inside the lectern was deeply gouged in the top edge. And it was splintered.Because I live in a rural area, to return the item is a long car ride. I needed the lectern to hold up my art so I can finally draw and paint again due to an old whiplash injury, so the damaged area was sanded down.Otherwise it is a sturdy and well-constructed easel.

Well made, and more durable than I thought it would be. I used 2 of these holding 4x5 cameras at an event a week ago. They were rigid enough to hold the fairly heavy cameras still even in moderate wind. $60 ish is actually a good price for these.