Sheckels Book V

In celebration of World Book Day (April 23), I had the inspired idea to pick up a book. OK, I know what you’re thinking, that’s not particularly inspired. I pick up a book for every book related holiday, it’s true. Let’s see, there’s Read a Book Day, Book Lover’s Day, Library Lover’s Day, World Poetry Day, and Drop Everything and Read Day, just to name a few. Prithee don’t forget Talk Like Shakespeare Day, that’s April 23 too! The truth is, I pick up a book all the time and every chance I get – every day is book day around here!

And what better book to pick up than Bill Sheckel’s newest, Book V. Bill has been a crafter of fine furniture for close to fifty years, and favors the Scandinavian style and Shaker aesthetics he learned from his Danish background and design school days. Lucky for us, he also loves puzzles. He has a whole set of book themed puzzle boxes now, each set apart from the others by some small detail on the spine. This time he chose to inlay a small circle engraved with a roman numeral V at the base of the binding.

Bill relates that he came up with the initial concept some time last year, inspired by a Japanese Karakuri cube puzzle. Translating the idea to a book posed a few interesting problems, since each side is a bit different in shape and size. He set the prototype near his favorite sitting chair, and off and on would pick it up and think about how he might make it a little more challenging, and enjoyable, until after about six months he had settled on the final design, which includes an additional tricky move to get things started that really keeps people guessing (including me!).

For Book V Bill used thermally modified Ash, which has had the moisture cooked out resulting in a dark brown wood which is very stable, to make the main structure. Being so stable, this wood is well suited for a veneer. Browsing for something unusual, Bill came across a fumed Eucalyptus veneer which was richly grained and perfectly dark brown to match the Ash. If you look closely at the Book V, you may notice that the binding edges are slightly different from the covers, but so closely matched that Bill did not need to add any edge banding. Interestingly, “fumed” wood means that it has undergone a chemical treatment induced by ammonia gas, which reacts with tannins in certain woods that then turns the wood dark in color. This can occur with Eucalyptus and Bubinga wood, but is most commonly seen with White Oak. If you’ve ever seen a piece of original Stickley furniture, you have seen fumed White Oak. The furniture would be placed in a large closet or cabinet with a bowl of ammonia, and simply left for the next day, by which time the bowl would have evaporated and the process completed. Now if I could only find something that would just as simply open this book for me overnight, I’d be all set.

Here's a toast to Bill’s Book V on World Book Day with Words of Wisdom. Now, I don’t propose to have any such syllables at my disposal, and hardly think my thoughts on puzzle boxes and cocktails merit any deep thoughts. No, “Words of Wisdom” is rather the perfectly apropos name of the drink we are toasting with today. Created by celebrated and award winning New York bartender Natasha David (Imbibe’s 2020 Bartender of the Year), it can be found in the pages of her new book, Drink Lightly, in the “gulpable thirst quenchers” section.

David’s new book is a fabulous resource for low and no alcohol cocktails. She describes the origins of the drink, which uses sage for its calming effects (and to “ward off evil spirits”), and mentions that sage also reminds her of eucalyptus, which ties in nicely with the eucalyptus wood from Sheckel’s book. Honey calms the slight bitterness of the sage, and the tonic bubbles complete the lighthearted drink. David promotes the idea that “serious” and “joyful” should go hand in hand and says, “I wanted to show that one could take craft seriously while simultaneously having fun.” I think that sums up the bespoke world of puzzle boxes rather nicely, too. Here’s to a nightstand stacked with good reads – cheers!

Words of Wisdom by Natasha David

2 oz sage infused dry white wine

¼ oz honey syrup

½ teaspoon apricot liqueur

2 dashes Miracle Mile Bay Rum Bitters

Tonic water

Combine initial ingredients over ice in a wine glass and top with the tonic. Properly garnished with a bay leaf and lemon wheel, or a citrus bookmark for Book Day.

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