Oak cook book stand

[Eshmiel]

One solution to the "keep it open at this page" problem is to use weighted cords that are attached to the top-back of such a stand and dangle down over the opened book, one per page, left & right. I'm sure I've seen this on church lecterns and similar thingies used when someone stands and reads to an audience.

I imagine that, to be effective, the cords would need a means to be hung down at a variety of spots along the top edge of the bookstand (for wider & narrower books) with the weights sufficient to keep the cords taught against the inclination of the open book pages to close up again. Perhaps the cords & weights could be dismountable, with a row of attachment points for them along the back-top of the stand. The cords & weights might live in a small drawer at the bottom of the bookstand......

Eshmiel

 

[Nico Adie]

Potential solution to that could be incorporating a magnetic strip along the base of where the book rests, and then having little blocks made from the same timber as the book stand (or a contrasting timber) with rare earth magnets embedded in them. When in use, they hold the page in place, when not they can be attached to the underside.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Very nice job, but I'm with the sans cat majority even if it is preferable to the real thing in a food area

No, they don't make good eating.

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

It's all on a comfortably small scale, requiring only a modest amount of expensive timber, but with enough opportunities for tricky details and precision joinery to satisfy any skill level.

Small scale? No minuscule in comparison to my Wednesday volunteering 'job'!
But thanks for all of the positive comments.
Martin