I thought I'd share some photos of the class I took this past Saturday at the Woodwright School in Pittsboro, NC.
The day began with a bit of history on Roubo and the cultural significance of the bookstand.
Some helpful and general caveats were discussed and then the work began.
We finished planed the boards with a smoothing plane and began to layout for the wooden hinges. Then came a healthy amount of pounding, chopping, and excavating with a variety of chisels and knife.
We drilled 1/16" holes in the top corners of the hinges, stuck a fret saw blade in the hole and sawed in between the hinges to free them.
We re-sawed the 7-8" wide walnut from each end down to the hinges with a rip saw.
If you did everything just right, then you were rewarded with a satisfying pop as your board, that was previously one solid piece, hinged open into a folding bookstand.
We finished with laying out the decorative profiles on the top and bottom of the stand and sawing them with a coping saw.
Not only was it great fun to accomplish this unique project in 8 hrs, but it was also uplifting and restorative to be surrounded by 10 other eager woodworkers, all focused on doing the best they could with simple hand tools.
I didn't include many nitty gritty details, but if anyone is curious for more, feel free to comment and ask.
Hope this is of interest to some here!
Edit: Why do all my photos import in the wrong orientation...? Sorry. Anybody know how to fix that?