Tray ja vu

There is a disadvantage to making one off items using reclaimed timber – when someone sees something you made and says they want one too! (This project was completed a while ago, but due to moving etc., I am only just getting around to publishing it)

The tray that I made for my wife went down well, and someone who saw the post of the making of it asked me to make two more for them. The only issue was that I had used all of that timber to make the tray, and I didn’t have anything else suitable.

After sorting through my stack of timber I found some wood that would be a close approximation of what I had used, with a bit of work.

I started by sawing everything down to length and resizing whichever bits needed to be changed, until everything was the same thickness. As I was making two identical trays I separated everything into two identical piles.

One of the design features that the client specifically asked for was the rounded over edges between each board on the base. This was easy on the wife’s tray because the timber came rounded over! This time I had to replicate it by hand. Using a block plane I cut a 45 degree chamfer along both top lengths, then moved the block plane around the piece of wood on each pass to round over the timber. I counted each pass I made with the plane so each roundover would look exactly the same. Once this was done with all the pieces for both bases I ran some 240 grit sandpaper over the edges to get a perfectly smooth radius and then laid them out to check it looked okay.

Happy with the way they looked I started on the sides, using my favourite Rapier #3 grooving plane to cut a groove along each of the side pieces, leaving a lip that the base would sit in. I also cut all the 45 degree mitres on all of the ends at this time.

I did a dry fit to make sure everything fitted together as it should, but then realised there was a bit of a problem. Because this wood was thinner than I used on the previous tray I found it would sag in the middle if a weight was placed on it, and I didn’t trust glue to hold it. I decided to inlay a strip of contrasting wood across the centre of the base of the tray to support everything. First of all I marked out and cut the groove across all of the pieces. This needed to be very accurate and I took my time over it to make sure it looked right.

Then I fitted the strip of wood into the base and glued everything together.

The end result was more than strong enough and also made a really nice feature, although being on the bottom of the tray I’m not sure how many people will ever see it!

Next it was time to glue the sides together. I put the smallest amount of glue in the middle of each end of the base, this allows the base to be securely held to the sides but also allow for expansion of the wood.

Once everything had dried overnight I checked to make sure everything was sitting flat and the angles were correct.

The final piece of joinery was to fit a rounded over piece of timber where the edge met the base. These were mitred at 45 degrees to match the sides.

Finally it was time for the finish. I had sanded each piece at several stages throughout the build, and one final sand with 240 grit sandpaper left the trays as smooth as silk. Once dusted off I painted on four layers of food safe polyurethane varnish to protect against spills and stains.

I loved making these, as the strip on the bottom really makes them stand out. If you want a tray making let me know!