Perhaps one of the simplest forms of folding book rack is shown in [Fig. 152], at a. The ends are sawed out of the bottom piece, pivoted with two 1⁄4-inch dowels and when stood upright the lower part strikes against a cleat, which acts as a rest for the rack and a stop for the end piece.
The weakness of most book racks lies in the gradual weakening of the ends at the joint so that the weight of the books makes them lean outward. This should be considered carefully in working up the design. One of the weakest forms perhaps is shown at b. Theoretically, this is all right, but in practice the ends soon bend or lean out. A skeleton form, making use of the halved joint, is shown at c.
The two long sides and two short ends are squared up and halved as shown. All the ends are bevelled. Holes are bored for the pivots—1⁄4-inch dowels—a distance from the cross pieces equal to half the thickness of the folding ends. This is to insure the ends standing perfectly upright against cross pieces. If this distance is greater than half the thickness, the ends will lean out, and if less than half, the ends cannot be gotten in place. The bottom of the ends must be rounded, or they will not fold over.
The construction is very simple, and requires little material. Another very ordinary method is shown at d. It is as common and simple as it is weak and unsatisfactory. The ends are placed on the bottom piece and hinged. If a cheap and quick method is desired, it would be better to place the hinges as shown at e, because then the tendency to tilt out is prevented by the pressure against the bottom piece as long as the screws hold.
A far better method is to mortise the shelf through the end pieces and fasten it with a good, healthy pin or wedge, as shown at f; and a still better plan is to have two mortises and two wedges, as shown at g.
In constructive design, nothing is lost by honesty. The ends in this case are held in place by pins, so instead of hiding the fact, emphasize it by making these pins big and strong enough to do their work. The rack may be further strengthened by adding corner brackets at h.
Having decided on the construction, the form of the ends may be taken up. This is affected somewhat by the construction, but some of the outlines tried by our boys and suggestive to other boys are shown at 1, 2, 3.
They used two distinct kinds. One was characterized by straight lines. These they decorated with chip carving. The other style was distinguished by curved outlines, and decorated by outlines made with the veining tool, and by staining the figures in various colours.
The stains they used were oil colours thinned with turpentine so as to bring out the grain of the wood, rather than to hide it, as in painting, and care was taken to tone down these colours to dull reds, browns, greens, and grays. For staining and polishing, turn to [Chapter XLIX].