Two sons

There's a story behind these:

Our two sons are grown and we live thousands of miles from one another.  When one of them saw my post about Roubo bookstands, he asked that I make two from a single board, one for him and one for his big brother.  I happened to have a piece of figured walnut that I had been saving for something special.  Although somewhat small, I had already decided to size them for e-readers/tablet computers anyway.  I am pleased with how they turned out.

These are special to me.  My sons are both bibliophiles and I know they will use them.  More than that, they maintain closeness.  My son asked that I sign them, something I have never done.  Years ago, my wife gave me a small branding iron of my initials that I haven't used until now.  You have to look for them--they're inside the front leg facing backwards--but they're there.

Roubo bookstand--21st century edition

Some projects are just plain fun, and the Roubo bookstand is definitely one of them.  Published in his book of 1769, it is ingenious, attractive and practical.  It can be built in an afternoon or evening and you'll find it hard to suppress a smile when the board magically opens up with a small splitting sound to reveal the bookstand.  I will be making several from walnut to give to family members, but I wanted to refine my technique and design first by making one more in alder:

These pictures are "off the saw" prior to refinement of the hinge. which turns out to be quite easy.  Perhaps this is a rationalization, but I found that some looseness in the hinge is preferable.  As you can see from the picture, the hinge rests on the perpendicular faces of the board when open, so it doesn't affect the stability of the stand.  I find the lines of this hinge when open very attractive.

What makes it a 21st century edition?  First, rather than the traditional edge treatment, as in this plan by Roy Underhill, I wanted to come up with an alternative that wouldn't draw the eye away from what I want to be the focal point:  the hinge.  I experimented with an alternative, which seems to me a little less prominent.  Second, it is sized for an e-reader or tablet computer, an idea I got by seeing popular accessories available for them.  Finally, I wanted to see how it would look with seven hinge sections rather than five.

There are quite a number of good videos available online showing how the bookstand is created, several of which I post links to below.  I offer just a few observations.

You should definitely not be bound by any predetermined plan or dimensions.  Any board you have  that suits you is fine.  Dividers, a square and a marking gauge are all you need to lay it out.  Locate the hinge at about one-third of the length of the board.  Subdivide its width into an odd number of hinge sections, probably at least five.  Seven is more work and doesn't seem to add much.  The stand works fine even if it is substantially narrower than the open book you put on it.

It is important when chiseling out the hinge to get the bevel very accurate.  You want the hinge leaves to be identical when the stand is open and you want to avoid unsightly splitting when you open the hinge.  Either use a thin ruler or a chisel with blue tape on it at the right depth like Chris Schwarz does.  If you start on the same line and bevel to a uniform depth that will meet the resaw cut, you're good.  Some people use a chisel guide, but I don't think it is necessary.

The most difficult part of this project for me is getting a nice straight, cut along the vertical edges of the hinge sections.  I tried it both ways and think it is better to make these cuts before creating the bevels because it defines the hinge sections.  Roy Underhill has a traditional method that I tried on my last prototype.  I made a little pointed saw from a hacksaw blade like he suggests but I found that opening up the cut from a small hole is very tedious.  This was confirmed by someone who took the course at his school.  For this one, I tried Chris Schwarz's approach of cutting off the pins from a coping saw blade and using it with your fingers.  It works, but I had difficulty sawing straight with such a flexible blade.  I did improve as I went along, mainly by first making angled cuts from the starting hole down each side to serve as a guide for the blade.  One online video shows it being done with the Knew Concepts fretsaw, which uses pinless blades that will fit through a very small hole.  I suspect this is the best way to do it.  If you have ideas, please share them in a comment.

So, grab a scrap and have some fun.

Chris Schwarz video

Roy Underhill program

Youtube video

Roubo book stand

There have been a number of articles, posts and videos about the Roubo book stand, a clever and attractive piece made by creating a "hinge" in a piece of wood and resawing the board in half so it will open.  Roy Underhill did a program on it which motivated me to give it a try.  In addition to being a skill builder, my sons are bibliophiles and I think it might make a nice gift.

When I am trying something new and challenging for the first time, I like to take the pressure off of myself by making a crude prototype from secondary wood I have on hand with the explicit intention of throwing it away.  I have a large stack of alder which is perfect because it works easily.

You can watch the program, but I want to mention a couple of issues I ran into.  After layout, the first thing Roy does is make internal vertical cuts along the sides of the "hinge leaves," which, predictably, he has vintage gizmos for.  You drill a small hole in the corners and then use a hack saw blade on which a sharp point has been created and a handle attached to start from this hole and open up the cut.  I was able to make the blade by using a pair of tin snips, but I don't have the vintage handle, so I just used the blade.  Took a very very long time, perhaps because it was a fine blade and I couldn't exert much downward force.  Roy then switched to a small keyhole saw to complete the cut.  The keyhole saws I can find around here have very thick blades which would detract a lot from the appearance of the stand.  I hit on the idea of using a jig saw blade, which seems to work and is thinner.  I am going to make a handle for this jigsaw blade before my next attempt.

Next comes chiseling out the hinge.  That went smoothly until I got to the nearly vertical part of the hinge.  My bench chisels are too thick to use.  Roy uses a very thin paring chisel, which I don't have, so I just cut away the hinge enough to let my bench chisel fit (this is just a prototype).  I think a carving chisel might work better than a paring chisel and I am going to look for one.  If I understood him correctly, he made these in the past with a bevel rather than rounding the hinge, so this is another alternative.  I think it might look better and you might be able to round it over after the stand is opened.  Roy points out that you can use a shoulder plane to clean it up once it's opened and this would make things a lot easier.  You just have to avoid spelching by putting a slight bevel on the sides of the leaves before you use the shoulder plane.

Anyway, here is the result.  I am quite pleased actually, as it accomplished its intended purpose.  It's very crude but I learned what I need to know to improve.  I think these would look especially nice if you chose a board with a prominent grain pattern that would accentuate the fact that the stand is made from one piece of wood..  Now it's into the burn pile!

Give it a try.  I found it a lot of fun.

Update:  A friend made me aware of a short video by Chris Schwarz on the Popular Woodworking site that addresses both of the issues I ran into.  Coincidentally, I had reached the conclusion that the methods he demonstrates are the way to go.  Here it is.