# My Tray phase



## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

I went through a phase of building trays. I had all these strips of wood from ripping boards on the table saw. It was either cut them up for kindling or make something out of them. 
I decided to see if I might make some boards out of them ,then thought about what to make out of the boards. TRAYS! yes thats it I made some trays.

Herb


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Wow Herb , I could only wish to make trays that beautiful 
The first one is definitely my favorites. That's a great utilization of what would have otherwise been fire wood


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.............


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Why do you guys keep adding to my " I wish I could do that " List.....LOL

Great work Herb. Thanks for posting.


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

Good job, Herb. I like the first one pictured. That looks like something I would do.


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Beautiful work Herb.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Nice work, are you intending to corner the tray market?


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## routergieck (Feb 11, 2013)

Beautiful trays Herb, what process did you go through to make them?
Dennis


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## RMIGHTY1 (Nov 5, 2014)

Hi Herb (the tray guy), thank you for sharing. I also like the first one best. Is the first one the last one you made? Practice makes perfect, not that the others are not perfect, just personal preference. Thanks again for sharing.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

RMIGHTY1 said:


> Hi Herb (the tray guy), thank you for sharing. I also like the first one best. Is the first one the last one you made? Practice makes perfect, not that the others are not perfect, just personal preference. Thanks again for sharing.


Ray, the 4th picture down was the first one, The first picture was towards the end, the dragonfly ones was of a sample I made for a school teacher who wanted one for each student where she could put their assignment and all the materials for the lesson in the trays and pass them out everyday. When I told her that they would be $8.00 each she wasn't interested, the dragonfly was some freehand routing experiment. must have scared her away. LOL

Cut the scrap to lengths for the trays.
The scrap rips varied in thickness so separated them into 1/4" thick to 1/2" thicknesses.
Lay them up in contrasting colors and glued them into a board.
Sanded them on the drum sander to even them up.
Measured the length from the center and cut off both [email protected] 45 degree angle 
Cut the ends from the cutoffs to keep the grain continuous. 
If there was enough material to make the handles out of the same as the tray,used that ,otherwise made handles out of solid stock.
Made the sides and glued them on.
I finished them with water based Poly.

Some of the too thin scraps ,I cut the other way and made 1/16"-1/8" strips to use as feature strips between wider pieces.
I made a template for routing the handles .
I used Titebond 2

Herb


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## rwl7532 (Sep 8, 2011)

What are the overall dimensions?
They look great.
The dragonfly one looks like an easy style to start out with (except for the dragonfly itself).


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## ksidwy (Jul 13, 2013)

In fact, scraps simply don't exist!
Sid


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

rwl7532 said:


> What are the overall dimensions?
> They look great.
> The dragonfly one looks like an easy style to start out with (except for the dragonfly itself).


Ralph,
they were about 11"X25" overall including the sides and handles. But they all varied,I didn't have a specific size I just made them to fit the material. The school marm one was 9"X12"inside.

Herb


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## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

ksidwy said:


> In fact, scraps simply don't exist!
> Sid


I saw the same opinion recently.


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## RMIGHTY1 (Nov 5, 2014)

Thanx for the recipe Herb. Whenever I do get my shop set up to start, I will have to crawl before I can walk, etc. I have done several cutting boards but only one glued up board of several wood types. Did that in high school shop. Cut it into a fish shape and counter sunk the eye. Gave it to the woman in my life at the time, my mom. My mom is gone but that fish is still kicking around somewhere. I have so much to learn. Thank you again Herb. :wacko:


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## Arcola60 (Jul 4, 2009)

Herb,
Those trays are truly beautiful!
This is my first tray. The bottom is made from 200+ yr. old Pecan that we were able to get from my Dad's tree before he passed away. The sides are true Mahogany that he bought sometime in the 80's. The corner splines are Purple Heart, and Cherry. I have been making end grain cutting boards with the Pecan and various hardwoods. These pieces were not really perfect for the cutting boards. I could not throw them away. I gave it to his oldest sister for Christmas. She was very happy to get the tray. She uses it almost every day!
I am no way trying to compete with you! That would be foolish. Thank you for posting your work. You are very talented, and do beautiful work.

Ellery Becnel


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Arcola60 said:


> Herb,
> Those trays are truly beautiful!
> This is my first tray. The bottom is made from 200+ yr. old Pecan that we were able to get from my Dad's tree before he passed away. The sides are true Mahogany that he bought sometime in the 80's. The corner splines are Purple Heart, and Cherry. I have been making end grain cutting boards with the Pecan and various hardwoods. These pieces were not really perfect for the cutting boards. I could not throw them away. I gave it to his oldest sister for Christmas. She was very happy to get the tray. She uses it almost every day!
> I am no way trying to compete with you! That would be foolish. Thank you for posting your work. You are very talented, and do beautiful work.
> ...


I like that Ellery,
Got me thinking about what you did, for some other projects. I like that idea stagger matching the pieces.

Thanks for posting that.

Herb


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