The Gherkin was another board I really liked the look on when I bought it early in my keyboard career. And it took me over four months before I finished building it. I’m using 40% keyboards daily, but 30% is another beast to handle. And before I can properly use it I need to print out the keymap, or write the keymap on some blank spare keycaps. A strange thing with the default keymap for the Gherkin is that it come with no GUI/windows/super button. Not sure why, but need to add that for my usage at least.

The main reason for it taking so long before I managed to finish, is that I decided to use Kailh Mid-Profile Switches for this build. One, it took over a month to get the switches, two I had to make a new switch plate for the case, as the Low-Profile switches are smaller then regular switches.

One thing to note is that it’s small, and cramped. At least for me who is getting really comfortable with the spacing between my split boards. No more crouched shoulders for me. Untill I want to play with the Gherkin again.

Get your own

It’s a pretty easy build, as all of the components are through-hole, and there are at least one store that has the Gherkin in stock. Or you can order the PCB your self, as it’s open-sourced. Head over to github/di0ib for the necessary files. There isn’t one build “guide”, but luckily tons of build “logs”, 40percent.club has a list of links to follow.