A simple laptop stand

[TheFatBaron]

I made this for a friend out of a couple scrap pieces of walnut and maple. The walnut wasn't wide enough, so after I cleaned it up, I split it down the middle and glued in the maple.

 

 

To make things difficult, though, I took too much of the wood away around the bark inclusion in the one corner and the corner broke off on the way home from the shop. I ended up doweling it together before filling the gap with epoxy. Next time, I'll either fill the gap prior to squaring, or fill it immediately after. Learning experience #1.

 

 

The bevels are mitered blind box joints. I figured it'd be a good way to practice repetitive cuts, while not worrying too much if the joints themselves were perfect. Problem was, I cut the outter bevel on a tablesaw, which had a crosscut sled which was, unfortunately, not quite square. I got it pretty close after refining it with my should/rabbet plane, but in the end, cumulate error made everything kind of loose. You can still see where I had to fill the gaps with epoxy. Learning experience #2.

 

 

The angle was accomplished by cutting from front to back, by hand, then refining the end grain with planes/files/orbital sander, which worked pretty well to get it level... but when I went to show it off to my wife, I realized that it doesn't matter if it's level on my assembly surface... not all surfaces are flat. So, I chucked a couple pieces of 1/2" maple dowel into my drill press, rounded off the ends, and epoxied in some threaded rod. So now, there are adjustable feet. Next time though, I'd probably recess them a bit more to keep them a little more hidden. Learning experience #3.

 

 

[..Kev]

Nice job Baron!

[brooklyngohardwood]

Love this! Very simple and clean. The maple stripe gives it some nice contrast without feeling like it's trying too hard. 

[TerryMcK]

Very nice