More serving trays

Ed Nelson

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Location
Charlotte, NC
Here are a couple more serving trays I made for Christmas presents. Both of the panels are veneered over BB ply.

This one is Cherry with cherry veneer and maple burl veneer. The banding is from Inlaybanding.com
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This one is Walnut with walnut and sapele veneer. This banding is also from Inlaybanding.com.
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Ed those are super. Any chance you could give us more info on how you did this lot. I see the BB i presume that is baltic birch but what thickness did you use?

How do you finish the underside of the BB? Did you recess the bottom into the edge frame? Hows about a few more pics.

The veneer work is beautiful. Thanks for the tip on the edge banding. How does this stuff balance out for thickness in comparison to the thickness of normal veneer. Do you put this whole base through a wide belt sander or how does it get finished :dunno::huh:

Hey Ed are those complex mitred dovetails on the first one?

I love trays, must be a hangover from school projects.

Thanks for posting.:thumb:
 
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So many questions! I was a little negligent in taking progress pics, but I'll see if I can describe what I did.

Ed those are super. Any chance you could give us more info on how you did this lot. I see the BB i presume that is baltic birch but what thickness did you use? BB is baltic birch. I used a 1/4" sheet. The one downside to this is the panel is then a little wider than a 1/4" and cutting the dados had to be done on the tablesaw, widening the dado a little at a time.

How do you finish the underside of the BB? Did you recess the bottom into the edge frame? Hows about a few more pics. The underside of the panels is veneered with the same veneer as is used in the borders on the top of the panels. The cherry tray has cherry veneer on the bottom and the walnut tray has walnut veneer on the bottom.

The veneer work is beautiful. Thanks for the tip on the edge banding. How does this stuff balance out for thickness in comparison to the thickness of normal veneer. Do you put this whole base through a wide belt sander or how does it get finished :dunno::huh: The banding is slightly thicker than the veneer. I veneered the inner field and the outer field to the ply then routed just short of the depth of the banding. I wish I had a wide belt sander, but a card scrapper does an excellent job of bringing the banding level with the veneer. I love this pic!
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Hey Ed are those complex mitred dovetails on the first one? Yes they are! I was having problems with standard dovetails blowing out the tails trying to make stopped dados for the panel. They are mitered to the depth of the dado and then the dovetails were cut. Worked pretty good and I'm happy with how they turned out.

I love trays, must be a hangover from school projects.

Thanks for posting.:thumb:

For veneering the panels, I made three sets of cauls and clamp the panels between a set of melamine platens.

Thanks for the comments! These have been a lot of fun!

By the way, if you buy from Inlaybanding.com, tell Matt I said Hi! He does an excellent job and will help with customized bandings if you need them.
 
Thanks for the info Ed. Boy those trays got to me last night. I woke up visualizing how good they would look on a "Tea trolley" with drop sides and more inlay and a couple of nicely turned spindles supporting multiple shelves. Couple of good solid brass hinges for the drop sides to give a good contrast to the folding edge.

Mmmmm think there is a lifetime project there.

Thanks Ed.:thumb: What a way to enhance a day to day item.
 
Thanks for the info Ed. Boy those trays got to me last night. I woke up visualizing how good they would look on a "Tea trolley" with drop sides and more inlay and a couple of nicely turned spindles supporting multiple shelves. Couple of good solid brass hinges for the drop sides to give a good contrast to the folding edge.

Mmmmm think there is a lifetime project there.

Thanks Ed.:thumb: What a way to enhance a day to day item.

I know what you mean! Building these has project ideas flying through my head. I plan on building a chest of drawers and am thinking a top like these trays would look great. The tea trolley sounds like a great idea too! s
 
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