Two serving trays

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Villa Park, CA
Attached are pictures of two serving trays I completed recently. One is octagonal with curly bubinga laid in an eight segment sunburst with a walnut border and walnut sides. The banding is commercial.
Tray-30.jpg
Tray-31.jpg

The back is laid with claro walnut in an eight segment sunburst. What looks like a circle in the walnut on the back is just in the veneer. Laying it in a sunburst made it look like a circle. When you look at it in person, you don't see the circle - it only seems to appear in photographs.
Tray-31b.jpg

The other is a rectangular tray with walnut burl laid in a four way match, with a walnut border and walnut sides. It's banding is also commercial. The back was laid in regular walnut.
Tray-32.jpg
Tray-33.jpg

I rubbed the lacquer on the main panels to a glass finish so it was hard to get the pictures because of reflections but I think you can see them fairly well.

Mike
 
Those made me go OOOOOOOOO & AHHHHHHHH:thumb: Very nice and especially (to me anyway) he rectangular one is my favorite. Great job on the book matching, nice all the way around:thumb:
 
Thank you, all, for your very kind comments. The burl was pretty easy to lay - the bubinga much more difficult. My favorite is the bubinga - in person, the play of colors in the bubinga is really nice. The pictures don't do it justice.

I actually did these for a client. They're packed up right now, waiting to ship.

Mike
 
The CoC won't let me post the first words out of my mouth, but suffice to say that's some stunning work, Mike. :clap: Superb wood, expertly displayed. :bow:
 
Really beautiful work. The woods are beautiful as well. I noticed the "circle" as well. I always find it odd how the camera can capture something that isn't necessarily there.

Wes
 
excellent work mike. i really hope they plan to use those as display only, i couldn't bring myself to "serve" anything on that.

how did you join the miters on the outer pieces?

chris
 
Mike,

That is outstanding design and execution! :thumb:

Since I like to do veneer work when I get a chance, I'd like to know what substrate and adhesive you used as well as your process for pressing the veneer.
 
Mike,

That is outstanding design and execution! :thumb:

Since I like to do veneer work when I get a chance, I'd like to know what substrate and adhesive you used as well as your process for pressing the veneer.
Mostly I use MDF as a substrate. For example, these trays use 1/4" MDF. Good quality plywood, such as baltic birch, also works well. For small work like this, I use plain white glue because it has a fairly long open time and you can remove it with water if you get any that comes up through the seams or the veneer itself. For larger projects, you need a glue with a longer open time, although I've done pretty big projects with white glue - you just need to work fast and have everything ready.

I now use vacuum pressing, but when I started, I used two torsion boxes. Torsion boxes work pretty good, especially for smaller panels but they're a storage problem.

I have some tutorials on veneer work on my web site, but they're all somewhat advanced projects - I never did a tutorial on basic veneering.

Also, let me comment that if you're working alone, doing a big panel is difficult. You definitely want to start with small panels as you're learning. Doing something like a tray is a good starting point.

When you start, I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have (if I can).

Mike
 
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