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.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
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.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
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.