Serving Tray

Project: November 2021

Writeup: March 2022

Oh look, more brass...

What even is this? I don't know. Maybe a serving tray? Sure, but don't put any wine glasses on it because they'll slip through the gaps. In fact, don't put anything wet on it or you'll smudge the shellac. I guess just put some piece of static ephemera on it, store in a cool, dry place and admire from a distance. But it looks ok right? Can't really go wrong with dark American walnut and polished brass.

Love these clamps

I actually amazed myself at the straightness and accuracy of this cut. Maybe because I was hyper-conscious that I didn't want to ruin this expensive plank. It came planed so I didn't have much work to do other than cut it in half. Thought about putting a spline or a biscuit in, but it's not structural so I didn't bother.

Accurate-ish

Absolute dimensions weren't critical here but consistency was, unless I wanted a wobbly tray. So spent longer than I'd care to admit getting these close enough together with a good old file. Then the chamfer and nice circular polish was done on my tiny little lathe! (Proxxon DB250).

The holes for the little fences were drilled with a Big Gator V-Drill Guide, super useful for drilling perfectly radially. The fences just friction fit in there nicely.

Mmm, shiny

I had some bold ambitions of having a bit of thread come out axially from the big leg, go through the tray and have the bottom leg screw in so the whole thing could be glue-less. But I struggled with keeping everything straight and central. You'd really need a lathe and a center drill to do it properly. So I just expoxied the hell out of it all and it's solid. The posts are recessed into the surface slightly, so it was quite forgiving.

The finish is homemade golden shellac, which looks good! I think if I took the wood to a higher grit (this was just 800 or something) you could do a French polish. But would take a lot of time!

#signature

Featuring a secret knob on the bottom. This was Mum's gift for Christmas 2021. It's still on the coffee table, so I guess she doesn't completely hate it? Or maybe she just gets it out when I'm around...