DIY Tutorial: Book Stand for Dad

A homemade book stand for the man in your life, just in time for fathers day. I saw this bookstand on Pinterest a while back and know I had to make one. It totally elevates the classiness of your nightstand and can be made in an afternoon and for about $6 for 2....

Supplies:
a 1"x12"x4ft piece of lumber (could probably use a 1"x8"x4ft piece)
wood glue
clamps (either welding or wood glue-ing clamp)
table saw
book for sizing (optional)


Alright all you handy ladies out there, lets get brave and roll out that table saw!

1.) measure the size of your book. I mad mine the width of the pages and a little taller than the book. It ended up being 7 1/2" x 9 1/2". Cut the sides square to the exact size you want them.

use guide rail to make sure that both long sides of your triangle end up the same size. You can also cut your bottom piece to the same width at this time

2.) Draw on the edge of the boards to make sure you cut them in the correct direction. The top edge of each of these is going to be 18 degrees. Or you can measure out a not so steep triangle if you like. So crank that blade angle over to 18 degrees and move your guide rail to 0 inches from the blade (or as close to zero as you can get).

you are going to feed the wood through vertically, so take extra safety prcations!!!
WEAR SAFETY GLASSES! and USE A JIG TO PUSH YOUR PIECE THROUGH THE CUTS! If  you are also too nervous to hold the top of the wood, you can always put a clamp on it and hold the handle of the clamp

now cut the top angle of both pieces of wood. Repeat with the bottom edge which will have an angle of 36 degrees.  After you cut both pieces they should look like this:

3.) Glue the top angle together and clamp. **note: have a wet rag available to remove excess glue. If it is not wiped off, it will penetrate the wood and the wood will not hold a stain. If you are painting, its a pain to sand off.**

The one on the left has welding clamps and the one on the right has wood glue clamps (which they make in a miniature size that would have been great to have for this project)
Allow to dry for an hour. While that is drying:

4.) Cut your bottom piece to the correct width if you haven't already done so. Then set the clamp top on the wood and trace the needed width of your bottom piece. Again, draw the angles you are cutting on the outer edge to keep from getting confused.

5.) Glue the bottom piece on. I had to use the same clamps I had on the top for the bottom, so I had to wait until the top had set before doing this (about an hour). I also had a bench with a gap in it, so I was able to flip the piece upside down and clamp the bottom (sorry, I forgot to get a picture of this.)

Ta-Da!!!
6.) I then sanded them like crazy! (make sure you wait at least another hour before doing this) First I used a belt sander to get all the pieces flush on the sides. I then used a heavy grain sandpaper in a triangular sander to remove the cut marks and get the corner edges smooth-ish and even. I then used a 150 grit (220 would be better) to get everything silky smooth.
7.) Stain the outside (optional). I like using a wood conditioner before doing this, to help the stain go on evenly. Note that even after all of that sanding, I had several invisible glue drip spots that appeared when the stain went on.
8.) Gift and enjoy!

Happy Pinning!