Roubo Bookstand

[Michael Fross]

Hello everyone,

This is something I've been wanting to build for some time ever since I saw Roy make it. I found his plan here (LINK (http://www.woodwrightschool.com/downloadable-plans/)) and thought I would give it a go.

I had a really twisted piece of cherry, so this small project made a lot of sense. This is made from one piece of wood. For those not familiar, you carve the hinges and then saw it apart. I was surprised at how quickly it progressed and I can't describe the feeling when it "popped' open.

Overall, a really fun project that didn't take that long and used minimal amounts of wood. It's going to mom's tomorrow for mothers day.

Anyway, thought I would share.

Michael

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[Mark Dorman]

looks good. I'm sure your Mom will love it.

[daniel lane]

Michael,

What a great project! Mom is going to really enjoy displaying and showing that off.

I started a small project with some cherry today, and appreciate the 'looking for the right project for this piece of wood' thing. I've always wanted to build a Roubo bookstand just for fun (no idea where I'd put it!), you've prodded me further in that direction. Thanks! (Only slightly tongue-in-cheek...)



daniel

[Jim Koepke]

Wonderful work, I am sure your mom will like that. Especially if she uses a cook book in the kitchen.

The link didn't work for me.

jtk

[Michael Fross]

Wonderful work, I am sure your mom will like that. Especially if she uses a cook book in the kitchen.

The link didn't work for me.

jtk

Sorry about the link Jim. I've updated it. It's called "Bookstand.jpg" located here: http://www.woodwrightschool.com/downloadable-plans/

As for usage, yep, this is not a very useful project. I would venture to say most people don't stand to read like they did in the old days. However, holding a cookbook is exactly what I envision it to be used for.

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

Michael

[Allen Breinig]

That looks great! Better than Roy's, but to be fair he did his in 20 minutes. How thick of wood did you start with? Any tricks to smoothing the saw cut area after you popped it open?

[Michael Fross]

That looks great! Better than Roy's, but to be fair he did his in 20 minutes. How thick of wood did you start with? Any tricks to smoothing the saw cut area after you popped it open?

Thanks Allen. No real trick. I beveled the sides to give it more character, but then I just ran a small rabbit plane cross grain. And then a lot of work with a card scrapper. My medium shoulder plane fit the hinge area luckily. I did have to take a hacksaw blade, wrap it with sandpaper, and work it inside the hinge between the knuckles. The hardest part of the project is cutting the spaces between the hinges. I used a bunch of holes drilled with a 1/16" bit and my eggbeater drill, but it left a rough surface.

The wood was about an inch thick to start with, but given the twist and surface roughness, it ended up about 7/8" when I started making the stand.

Michael

[Tony Shea]

That's awesome Michael. I've been eyeing that project ever since I saw Roy do it as well. Just seems like a very neat thing to try. And your version really came out great. The small details such as the chamfers really refines it. Nice work Mike.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

If the wood is agreeable, I've found the best tool for smoothing surfaces you can't quite get at with a handplane is a chisel. Secure the work well, hold the thing in two hands, make skewing cuts, and have at it. Bevel down, handle in the air usually works better. Not the best thing for keeping the surface perfectly flat, so you've got to exercise some care there, but I'm surprised at the results I can get with a little bit of work. I think the broad, 40mm chisel I'm using for this task has sort of taken a bit of a camber to it from free hand sharpening and grinding and me not being very particular about the profile of the edge, outside of "sharp", so that probably actually helps. Not the thing for woods that don't want to behave, but I've been having fun with it - I had been shaping some bowsaw arms, and the chamfers on my workbench with a chisel, and it's just gone from there, it's fun. I rabbeted out a large section of my sliding deadman to clear bench dogs and ended up smoothing out all the sawmarks to a finished surface with that wide chisel.

Spokeshaves can also help get into tight spaces, too.

My blather aside, that looks great Michael! Terrific job! I've got a piece of wood kicking around here where I've been planning on trying my hand at one of these with. Yours is inspiring!