YOU now have the book-rest all put together ready for finishing. The first thing now to do is to sandpaper it. For this you must buy some (o) or (oo) sandpaper, and go over the whole thing, being careful not to round the corners. You can accomplish this by stretching a piece of sandpaper over one of the little bits that remained after cutting: this will make a flat, firm surface, and will not be so liable to round the edges as if stretched over your thumb.
Before staining, you must make the brass springs to hold the leaves back.
Cut six and one half inches of your spring wire, (which should be about one sixteenth of an inch in diameter.) At a point five eighths of an inch from end, bend the wire into a right angle; two and one fourth inches from that point give the wire a turn round a small nail, or piece of telegraph wire (you cannot turn it evenly with your fingers alone); this is to give the wire a spring, and will enable you to lift the end of the wire on to the leaves of the book. Now turn the end of the wire in so as to make a rounded end. It will then look like fig. 1.
Make another spring exactly like this one: then cut off a piece five and one half inches long, bend to a right angle at a point five eighths of an inch from end. Then at a point two inches from angle, give the wire a turn as in the other set, and turn the end in. Make a second one like this of the remaining piece of wire.
To fasten these springs on to the rest, you must bore a hole one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter through the sides of the two end uprights, at a point just below the end of piece D. Insert the five eighth inch ends of the larger set of springs into these holes, from the outside. You will find that you can lay the springs back when not in use, and that you can turn them out and lift the ends over the edges of your book, so as to keep the pages down when you do need to use them.
The smaller set can be fastened in the same way under lower B or under G if you prefer, at a point near the lower ends of A A.
If you are going to stain the book-rest, it is better to do it before fastening in the springs.
I think ebony stain goes best, and as you can make it yourself, it would perhaps be cheaper.
First you must get some logwood chips (about a teacupful); after boiling them in a pint of water for an hour or so, apply with an old brush (not the chips, but the decoction you have made by boiling the chips!). You can put on two or three coats of this, letting it dry each time.
The next part will perhaps be the hardest. Get some iron rust or old iron filings, put these in strong vinegar or acetic acid and let it stand a day or two; if by this time the liquid is not of a reddish-black color, add more iron rust.
After the two or three coats of logwood, your wood will be of a dark yellow color, but this will immediately turn to a fine black when you apply the iron. Only one coat of this is needful, because it does not soak in. You might try the logwood and the iron on a small bit of wood first, and then you will see if the solution of iron is strong enough for a good black.
When the book-rest is perfectly dry, rub on some thin shellac with a soft cloth: this will make the dull finish now considered so desirable.
This book-rest is very convenient to use round the house at home, and is, as you have seen, very easy to make: but it as an awkward thing to pack away in a trunk if you are going into the country, for instance, or are travelling.
You may like to make another, if you have been successful with this one, and this time you can make it with hinges, so as to fold up compactly, by making the following alterations:
The front will be the same and the back also, with the exception of the uprights E E, being hinged instead of screwed on to upper B.
The two G’s must have a one fourth inch hole bored one fourth of an inch from the back end, and a corresponding one bored through E about an inch from the bottom; these holes are for pins, on which the G’s may turn.
Instead of the six-inch C which joins the two G’s at a point one and one half inches from outer end, there should be two pieces seven inches long fastened with brads, at points respectively three inches and six and one half inches from outer ends of G. The piece six and one half inches from end can be left out—though it looks neater with it—but the back will shut closer without it.
Now put the peg through the G’s and into the E’s.
Draw the back of the book-rest from the front, put ends of G’s through the spaces bounded by pieces A, B and D, and you will find that the G’s rest in the corners made by A and B.
When you want to shut up the book-rest, you must draw the G’s out, and turn them away from front on to the back of the E’s, and then shut the E’s up on to the A’s as in figure.
I don’t think this quite as pretty as the fixed book-rest, and there are of course other ways of changing the original plan which would be more ornamental; but this is very easy and will answer the purpose. You will find it good fun and good practice to experiment on changes in any of the designs given, after you have mastered the simple forms and the plain directions given in these papers.