roubo book stand

Below is an account on how to make this bookstand-- I've included MPC's of the stand for the CW which will make things go MUCH faster. You will still need a way to seperate the sides (a bandsaw or a hand rip saw will work) and a way to cut the knuckle seperators (a coping saw or scroll saw works well, but I've seen Chris Schwarz do it with a scroll saw blade held by hand and it worked for him.
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Well, I had some fun tonight-- After a quick sharpening session I made a bookstand. I tried one a couple of weeks ago but a dull bandsaw blade helped me ruin the piece posthaste... well, new bandsaw blades arrived the other day and the results this time were much better (the fact that I did the stand in pine this time instead of maple helped too I'm sure)
I did use two power tools (a bandsaw to seperate the pieces and a scroll saw to seperate the hinge knuckles) but other than that I am keeping this project tailed tool free-- even as far as cutting the board to begin with
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...351024x768.jpg
I then squared things up with a shooting board and plane
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...361024x768.jpg
The hinge is laid out and then you use a chisel to remove the waste from both sides.
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...381024x768.jpg
of course I laid it out wrong the first time... after some head scratching and a return to Chris Schwarz's blog I corrected things (you draw parallel to the edges of the diagonal square on the side)
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...391024x768.jpg
If you use the Carvewright to do this you will not have any layout issues--

I then drilled a tiny hole on the waste corner of each inside hinge and used a scroll saw to cut the parallel knuckles
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...411024x768.jpg
Then it was chop and pare, chop and pare chop and pare (this is the reason I had to do a quick sharpening session... the maple from my last attempt dulled every chisel in my shop, including my boys'!
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...421024x768.jpg
I used the guide from a square to pare down to the final correct 45 degree angle
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...441024x768.jpg
Again, this is where the Carvewright will REALLY help with future editions
After finishing the knuckles on both sides I used my bandsaw to saw the two pieces in half-- you stop when you reach the knuckles on each side
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...481024x768.jpg

I then took 2 rules and put them into the cuts... closed my eyes (Roy Underhill evidently said to close your eyes and think of England when you do this but I digress) and twisted both at the same time.... the halves come apart with a climactic "crack"
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...491024x768.jpg
I then cut off the front "book ledge" and cleaned thigs up as best I could with planes
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...521024x768.jpgTomorrow I'll probably cut a fancy shape on the back and legs and give it a quick finish, but for now you get the idea from these pics
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...541024x768.jpg
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...571024x768.jpg
I plan on making quite a few of these this year as they are going to be Christmas gifts (book and Ipod/Ipad stands for family and friends) I will make them in various sizes and different woods. I hope to avoid the "chop, pare, chop pare" down a lot (eliminate it possibly) with my carvewright in future editions. I also plan to do personalized carves in the stands themselves such as phrases for those that will be for cookbooks or a musical theme for a music stand... I haven't wrapped my head around it completely yet. The MPC is built in a way that you can just slip a bandsaw blade into the "ledge" portion instead of carving the whole top in half. This also allows for a much thicker top portion which will provide more wood for a relief carve. I've included a couple so you can see how you can play with the sizes. The most important thing is to always carve exactly half as deep as the workpiece is thick from each side-- this way the hinge will work correctly.

I have to give credit where it is due-- this idea came from Roy Underhill's article in a recent Pop WWing mag and was further cultivated by Chris Schwarz's blog on the subject. It was originally drawn up in Jacques Andre Roubo's L'Art du Menuisier (1769).
http://www.woodwrightschool.com/the-...ookstand-wroy/
Mr Underhill teaches a class on this as well-- I'd love to take it from him
Chris Schwarz did a video on this process which helped me immensely
http://blog.woodworking-magazine.com...Bookstand.aspx

Thanks for looking, and thanks again to those of you that helped me with the gradient for the pattern-- it helped a LOT


Lawrence

Guess I should include the MPC's

Thanks Lawrence for sharing all the photo's and mpc.
I am glad you shared how you completed the book stands.
Looks like a fun project and would make a great gift for anyone.

Fantastic Lawrence,

Now I'll just have to find a way to do the slicing cuts accurately without that depth on my bandsaw. Not a problem, just have to put some thinking into this like the Woodwright Shop. Many thanks Sir.

Awesome work, Lawrence, thank you for sharing this with us!
I'll be busy doing a couple of these... :)

Thank you Lawrence for sharing this! Something to do this weekend.
Lee

Nice project, Lawrence! Thanks for posting the step-by-step!