Serving tray experiment

[wtnhighlander]

Not much of a journal, but I saw another member ( @treeslayer, maybe?) post something like this, and wanted to reverse-engineer it.

Here is a good use for those setup blocks, they make excellent stops when bolted to the extruded aluminum fence. Of course, the fence is too short, hence the cobbled-up extension on the outfeed side. So, I set the dado stack to depth, aligned the fence to the sidewall thickness I wanted, set the near edge of the slab against the near fence stop, and slowly lowered it onto the spinning cutters. Then push forward to the far stop, lift the slab, spin 180, and do it again. Rinse and repeat, moving the fence away from the cutter by slightly less than the stack thickness, untill the middle is hogged out.

Next, I set a stop to about center of the blade, and pushed each end of the slab into the cutter until it stopped. Flip and repeat until a cove is formed on the 'handle' ends. There is a catch, though... to complete the cove across the slab, the stop would contact the cutter. Here is where another setup block is handy.

I set the second block firmly against the stop, and square across the fence. Lock it down.

Now the stop can be relocated EXACTLY across to the other side. Now I could put the fence on the left side of the bkade and finish the cove.

This tray isn't as fancy as @treeslayer's, but perfect for utility. I'll post a pic after sanding & finish.

[Coop]

So there’s a handle on the underside of the two ends? 

Your throat plate/insert was removed just for the pics, right? 

[treeslayer]

2 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

Not much of a journal, but I saw another member ( @treeslayer, maybe?) post something like this, and wanted to reverse-engineer it.

Here is a good use for those setup blocks, they make excellent stops when bolted to the extruded aluminum fence. Of course, the fence is too short, hence the cobbled-up extension on the outfeed side. So, I set the dado stack to depth, aligned the fence to the sidewall thickness I wanted, set the near edge of the slab against the near fence stop, and slowly lowered it onto the spinning cutters. Then push forward to the far stop, lift the slab, spin 180, and do it again. Rinse and repeat, moving the fence away from the cutter by slightly less than the stack thickness, untill the middle is hogged out.

Next, I set a stop to about center of the blade, and pushed each end of the slab into the cutter until it stopped. Flip and repeat until a cove is formed on the 'handle' ends. There is a catch, though... to complete the cove across the slab, the stop would contact the cutter. Here is where another setup block is handy.

I set the second block firmly against the stop, and square across the fence. Lock it down.

Now the stop can be relocated EXACTLY across to the other side. Now I could put the fence on the left side of the bkade and finish the cove.

This tray isn't as fancy as @treeslayer's, but perfect for utility. I'll post a pic after sanding & finish.

That’s the way I did it except after I cleaned out the middle I switched back to my regular blade tilted it to an angle I liked and put a bevel on each end, nice work and fun to build, oh yeah I like all your fingers where they are, make a throat plate for that dado stack so I can sleep at night

[wtnhighlander]

At 5/8", the stack is too wide for the standard plate, but the tray is plenty wide to span the gap, and I never got closer to the blade than the miter slot. Plus, this operation peels a lot of long, curly shavings, which the DC pulls much better through the open throat.

Dave, do you mill these from solid slabs? Mine was an edge-grain glue up. I'm thinking that a thinner plank, layered up on the ends,might save a lot of effort.

[treeslayer]

9 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

Dave, do you mill these from solid slabs? Mine was an edge-grain glue up. I'm thinking that a thinner plank, layered up on the ends,might save a lot of effort.

mine are all edge grain or face grain all solid slabs, seems like more work to me to layer the ends and edges you're going to hog out some of the waste in the middle of the board anyway and i think it may be dangerous to lower the board down with nothing in the middle JMO

[wtnhighlander]

As promised, pics with finish applied.

This is a pretty simple way to form a shallow tray that looks nice. Might have to make a few more with differen wood species.

Thanks to @treeslayer for posting the original inspiration!

[Coop]

Now that’s sweet! 

What was your original glued up thickness? 

What are your’s and @treslayers final dimensions?

[wtnhighlander]

@Coop, my slab was about 1" thick. Tray is around 12" x 18". It was just an experiment, so I never actually measured. Doing it again, I would leave more length on the "handles", so they could be cut to a more pleasing curve.

[treeslayer]

Not sure @Coop, I believe 11 X 17 and about 7/8” thick was the most common one, some more narrow and longer

[treeslayer]

9 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

As promised, pics with finish applied.

This is a pretty simple way to form a shallow tray that looks nice. Might have to make a few more with differen wood species.

Thanks to @treeslayer for posting the original inspiration!

Looks awesome Ross, they are fun to build and make great gifts 

[Chestnut]

I need to remember this for an idea. It'd be fun to make these form slabs, there might be some movement but that could be part of the fun of the try, add some extra dimension to it.

Good work.

[wtnhighlander]

Thanks all! @Coop, I put a tape to it, measures 11.5"x20". Fits a 10" dinner plate, silverware, and beverage perfectly.

[Coop]

Perfect for serving your bride, breakfast in bed. 

[Coop]

I’m better known from trying to copy others than from originality but thought I would try this. 

[wtnhighlander]

Love the racing stripes!