For this purpose you require some strips of wood about 1 inch wide, and 1/8 of an inch in thickness. These you can cut for yourself by ripping up some thicker wood into ¼ inch thicknesses, and of the required width; this extra thickness must be allowed for planing to be done afterwards. Plane them up carefully. Now put them together so that they form a frame consisting of three uprights and three cross-pieces, as in Fig. 73. Take a chisel and take off the corners; rub them well down with glass-paper, so that their surfaces may be nicely smooth. To put them together, place them on a table or a flat surface, and measure off the distances they must be from each other. Carefully bore holes big enough for nine ½ inch screws, with which they must be fastened together. Into the central bar two screws must be put at each joint if you require it to be rigid; only one screw if you require it to shut down into a small space.

Now there must be a rest for the book, which must be screwed to the under edge of the frame. Let this be a trifle thicker than those you have used for the frame of the desk. Next screw it on from the back at right angles to the frame by putting three screws - one in the centre, and one nearly at each end. Round the ends off. Now you must prepare a piece to act as a foot at the back. You will require for this a small brass hinge; one lap to be screwed to the leg, the other to the frame. With the chisel, bevel off the lower end, so that the whole foot stands level with the stand. You can buy two hooks or fingers for the outer edge, to keep open books, or to hold papers put on it, and the whole thing will be the better for staining, varnishing, and polishing. By a simple contrivance it may be made to fix on the stand.

Fig. 73.

For these smaller things you must use a fine saw, sharp chisels, and do not use brad-awls and gimlets too big for the screw-hole, or the screws will fit loosely, and all your work will be loose and rickety. Finish off your work nicely; get the surface very smooth before you polish or varnish it.