Three serving trays. One from mahogany, one from black walnut, and one from alder with a maple bottom. Box joints in the corners. A clear danish oil with 5 coats of poly.
they're great.
How did you locate the base? I was thinking about doing one myself but stopped when I started thinking about what to do with the base. As it has to be strong enough to carry things.
I noticed you finger jointed the sides.
Was there another reason apart from that it would get alot use that you decided on using 5 coats of poly?
I made those before and they are a great project for gifts. My wife fills them up with various items like local bee honey jars, turned honey dippers, exotic teas etc… They make for an excellent gift package over all. Save your hand plane shavings to use as "stuffing" inside throughout too.
Those look like finger joints, but I am pretty sure they are dovetails.
Thanks for the comments. TJ65, I am sending a link to where I got the plans from. http://americanwoodworker.com/blogs/projects/archive/2009/11/03/nesting-trays.aspx I only made the large tray. I put on 5 coats of poly because I like the look on the sides. The bottom I only put on enough to have a slightly grainy feel to help keep things from slipping around.