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Jeff Greef Woodworking
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Serving Tray

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Cut List- Serving Tray

2- 3/4 x 1-1/2 x 24 long sides
2- 3/4 x 1-1/2 x 11-1/2 ends
1- 3/4 x 5-1/2 x 24 piece to be resawn for the bottom.
1- Misc. rippings for splines

Resources For Making A Serving Tray

Chisels |  Clamps |  Glue |  Handsaws |  Handplanes |  Miter Gauges |  Table Saws |  Thin Stock

A while back a friend of mine stopped by the shop with a piece of Padauk that she had been keeping for some time, and which she wanted made into a tray. The piece was a little longer than two feet, and a little less than one, and 3/4" thick. At first I told her that I didn't think there was enough wood there to make the tray she wanted with sides about 1-1/2" high. But after looking at it I realized there was just barely enough lumber there, and made this tray for her. If you have a similar sized piece of wood around, you can do the same, or perhaps use up some of your smaller scraps to get the parts.

In order to get the wide bottom for the tray, I realized I would have to resaw part of the board to make two thin pieces. These I could edge glue for a wide bottom. The part to be resawn needed to be at least 5-1/2" wide. From the remainder of the board I was able to rip three pieces off for the sides, and still keep a piece wide enough for the bottom. Two of these rippings made the long sides, the other made both the ends.


Freud Combination Blade




Photo 1- Rip out your parts. A push stick such as that shown here is a basic safety device for making cuts on pieces of smaller width on the table saw. Every woodworker likes a different shape of push stick, but they all do the same thing- keep your fingers away from the blade.

To see table saws and blades, click here.

Begin your tray by ripping out the parts, be they from one board or many, as in photo 1. Next set up on the table saw to resaw the wide piece for the bottom. You can do this resaw with a 10" table saw, as shown in photos 2 and 3. The blade on a ten inch saw will come up above the table almost three inches, which is just enough to saw through half of the board, then flip the board and saw through the other half, splitting it into two.

You can also do resaw with a band saw. For a lengthy treatment on the subject, go to Thin Stock.

Photo 2- Make the resaw cuts on your stock in two passes, first with the blade at a lower height as shown. If you try to take the whole cut in one pass the cut can be much harder to control.

But do it in stages. First raise the blade to 1-1/2" as in photo 2, and make a cut on both sides. Set the fence so that the blade cuts down the middle along the edge of the board. Then, raise the blade to full height and make the second cut, as in photo 3. During all of these cuts keep your hands above or in front of the blade. Don't put your hand onto the face of the wood directly adjacent to the blade. Guide the work in with your hand on the face in front of the blade as in the photo, then remove this hand when the end passes through the blade.

Photo 3-  For the second pass raise the blade high enough to cut through. Don't keep your fingers on the face of the board as shown here as you push the wood through, because if the wood has an unseen fracture in it which shatters as your hand is next to the blade, your fingers will fall into the blade. Table saw safety means avoiding any remote possibility of your hand falling into the blade when something goes not as planned.

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