Routed Out Serving Tray

Nice job cutting and routing. Nice clean work. Good tutorial.

-- Mother Nature created it, I just assemble it. - It's not ability that we often lack, but the patience to use our ability

i really like this Julie, good job on the routing, did you free hand it or use a guide for the sides and ends, to me its very contemporary and it would look very nice on anyone’s table, i might do one like this except with walnut.thanks

-- GRIZZMAN ...[''''']

Grizz – I learned a lesson making this, which would be to have the wood piece larger than the final piece and to screw a template onto the wood. I clamped border pieces around the “rectangle” for the router bit to ride against, and, because I kept running into the clamps, had to keep changing the placement of them. This did not give me a perfectly smooth edge, I had to keep going back to clean up the side lines.

-- ~Julie~ followyourheartwoodworking.blogspot.ca

That turned out really good Julie, I like the clean lines and grain, it’s very functional and something I may like to try to make. Well done.

-- Roger-R, Republic of Texas. "Always look on the Bright Side of Life" - An eyeball to eyeball confrontation with a blind person is as complete waste of Time.

Julie, I like the clean lines and clear functionality of this piece. The wood grain is really highlighted and thanks for offering this bit of inspiration and help. :)

Leland

-- Leland, OC Calif., www.safetyshowerbars.com

I really like this, you have inspired me to try something like this. thank you for posting this Julie

-- Everyone calls me Ed or Eddie , mom still calls me Edward if she is mad at me.

I dreamt of making a routed tray last night…....I am going to make the template in acrylic on my laser and use a bowl bit with bearing… how bizarre that you post this now… and btw … nice job…

-- Drink twice... and don't bother to cut... @ larrysworkshop.wordpress.com For lovers of all things timber...

Larry, perhaps I sent brainwaves across the globe? Yes, do make a template, it will make things much easier and neater. Be sure to post your creation!

-- ~Julie~ followyourheartwoodworking.blogspot.ca

very nice. I want to start making some router bowls and such myself—thanks for the inspiration. I just need a bowl bit.

-- Douglas in Chicago - http://dcwwoodworks.com

Nice work Julie. You made an excellent choice on how to use this pretty piece of BIRCH.
It’s a wonderfully simply looking design, though we all know that it takes work and effort to make it look simple.

-- If you can't joint it, bead it!

What a wonderful little tray! I’ll bet that hundreds of copies are under alot of Christmas trees this year.
I started my template this afternoon.
Thanks for your post Julie, you have inspired many … and me.

-- Grumpy old guy, and lookin' good Doin' it.

beautiful tray indeed. I too will be borrowing the design. I may combine what you have done with the small dish holders I did to make a larger serving tray with the dishes on the side.

i don’t have a bowl bit for my router. can the same be accomplished with a corebox bit? with regards to finish, i know mineral oil is the usually the standard for trays, bowls, boards, etc…. how does that hold up to stains? the small bowls i would incorporate would hold condiments and my concern would be the tray being stained up. my dish holders were finished with shellac but there isn’t any food contact with these as they just hold the dishes and the spoons.

cheers

A truly amazing job Julie and the method used was fine for a one off even though heaps of sanding was required. All it takes to produce multiple identical ones with minimal sanding is two very simple templates, similar to the ones shown in my thread on making a marble solitaire game.

-- Harry, Western Australia

Ditto!!! Julie you do beautiful work, be it rough or fine, you are very talented! Are you planning to make a bunch to sell? If so, what means might you sell thel – art/fair settings? Consignments? Wholesale???

-- Harold

very nice…

-- Matt--Proud LJ since 2007