| Project by thiel | posted 112 days ago | 499 views | 1 time favorited | 11 comments |  |
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Two things are clear from this project:
1) If you learn by making mistakes, then I learned A LOT on this one :)
2) This is most beautiful wood I’ve worked with.
I bought some fancy woods without knowing what I wanted to do with them, and I settled on doing some trays for potential gifts and such. I figured it would be a good way to learn about these specific woods without breaking the bank. This piece is Bolivian Rosewood and the handles are scrap Peruvian Black Walnut that I had leftover from my Shaker Clock. It’s ~7.5×15.5 inches.
This rosewood is the prettiest I’ve ever worked with. It has long smooth lines of high contrast—caramel and walnut and ebony colored layers. The grain looks as if it is soft candy that has been stretched and stretched like taffy, and the wood itself is smooth and silky to the touch. On the downside, I’d have to describe it as “brittle” in some ways. Tough on tools. Tough to work. Lots of chip out.
Corners are dovetailed. The bottom SHOULD BE fitted some other way since the wood is bound to expand, but, well, I’ve learned now, haven’t I?
I resawed my boards and then bookmatched them. The bottom is a bookmatch, and the long sides are matched to each other—it gives an impression that the sides and bottom are all from the same board. The narrow ends had originally been cut from the same boards as the sides so it would be continuous, but I learned some more there and ended up using sections from the center of the book. I think it actually looks nice that way too.
This tray is the first of several “quick projects” I’m going to punch out, and while it’s pretty, it’s got some pretty HUGE problems. I haven’t puttied the problem areas yet, but I will. My wife plans to use it to serve espresso. Less than 10 minutes before it was done, I had no idea what to do with “whatever it is I’d made” and then I put the handles on and it occurred to me that it wasn’t a totally useless piece.
Finish is teak oil. I’m thinking of going over it with Arm-R-Seal with a coat of blonde shellac in-between. Thoughts?
I have enough wood left to make an additional one (with a center handle/divider). I’m gonna try not to learn anything on that one :-)
—David
-- Laziness - Apathy = Efficiency
11 comments so far
a1Jim
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16695 posts in 470 days
posted 112 days ago
Beautiful tray
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon
Innovator
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posted 112 days ago
Very nice tray.
-- Whether You Think You Can or You Think You Can't, YOU ARE RIGHT!!!
scopemonkey
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posted 112 days ago
The wood is marvelous. If you made mistakes, you hid them well which is a mark of good craftsmanship. If you haven’t made many mistakes, you just haven’t done enough. My personal preference would be to leave the finish as is except for perhaps a little wax and rub. Don’t spoil that “candy” by putting a plastic wrapper over it!
-- GSY from N. Idaho
PurpLev
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2739 posts in 542 days
posted 112 days ago
this is indeed a beautiful wood… and a nice tray at that too!
-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.
TopamaxSurvivor
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3014 posts in 569 days
posted 112 days ago
Sure looks good from here!! What do you mean by: “Corners are dovetailed. The bottom SHOULD BE fitted some other way since the wood is bound to expand”? How did you do the bottom?
-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.
thiel
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92 posts in 185 days
posted 112 days ago
The bottom of the tray is simply butted inside the outer fram—that is, it’s enclosed by the four sides, so if it expands, it’s sure to pop the sides of the tray off. Since it’s like 90% humidity here, I’m assuming instead it will contract in the winter and I’m hoping that the glue joint (glued to the sides) will be strong enough to hold it. At best, there will be a gap on the ends.
The bottom really should be shiplapped I think, or it should float in a dado… or perhaps I should have used mechanical fasteners…
-- Laziness - Apathy = Efficiency
TopamaxSurvivor
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3014 posts in 569 days
posted 112 days ago
Butted and glued isn’t good ;-(( You’re right about that. I like to Dado and let the bottoms float. Probably just join and glue the 2 bottom boards. Your dovetails look good. I’ve still got lots of mistakes to make myself ;-)) Carry on!!
-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.
CharlieM1958
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7615 posts in 1112 days
posted 112 days ago
I love rosewood, but I know what you mean about the brittleness and tearout. Don’t be surprised if you have no problem at all on the expansion issue. Call me an optimist. :-)
-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"
Mario
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882 posts in 945 days
posted 112 days ago
That is great looking, awesome wood.
-- Hope Never fails
Blake
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2753 posts in 768 days
posted 107 days ago
I really like the simple straight lines on this between the design and the wood figure. Nicely done.
-- Check out my new website! http://www.blakeweberwoodworking.com
Karson
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25792 posts in 1294 days
posted 107 days ago
A great looking tray. I agree that the base should be attached a different way.
I hope that it works out OK in the long haul.
-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †