Building a Curved-Handle Serving Tray

the starting point for the tray is making the assembly that consists of the sides and the bottom that's because the angle formed by the sides with the bottom determines the size and the shape of all the other parts now you can see that I've already cut the sides to their final length but I've left them extra wide for now the next step is to cut a bevel on the lower edge of the sides and that's going to set that angle between the sides and the bottom to do that you can see that I've tilted the saw blade in the table saw and I've positioned the RIP fence to match the dimensions shown in the plans now because these parts are pretty small I've also set up a feather board and that's going to hold the workpiece firmly against the RIP fence now using a push block I can cut the bevel in a single pass [Music] the next step is to cut a groove along the lower edge of the side and that's going to hold the bottom of the tray later on now to do that I've left the saw blade tilted but I've lowered it a little bit and I've repositioned the RIP fence now that's because I want the groove to start right at the beginning of the bevel once again use a push block and a pad to guide the workpiece across the blade there's one final angle cut that I need to make and that's to cut the sides to their final width now the key here is that I want the distance from the top edge of the groove to this bottom edge of the side to match the thickness of the tray bottom exactly just like that so all I need to really do is just raise the blade a little bit and reposition the RIP fence and then I'll make the cut there's one other detail that I want to mention and that's where the handle locks into the sides now to do that I'm gonna cut a notch in the upper edge of each side to make this cut I've set up a dado blade in the table saw and I'm gonna guide the workpiece using an auxilary fence attached to my miter gauge now I'm going to set it up so that the RIP fence acts as a stop to position the location of the notch now these pieces are pretty narrow so I'm gonna hold it in place with a clamp that locks the workpiece in place and it keeps my fingers safely away from the blade now I can push the workpiece across the blade and make the cut [Music] that takes care of the sides now I can turn my attention to the bottom of the tray and this is just a simple panel that I've glued up and cut to its final size now the bottom needs a tongue cut along each edge to fit in the grooves that I cut in the sides earlier to cut the tongue I'll use a dado blade buried in an auxilary rip fence then I'll cut a rabbet along each edge [Music] after wrapping up my work at the table saw I'm ready to assemble the bottom with the two sides now as you can see the angled sides I mean that it's just about impossible to pull a clamp across this but I have a little secret I've applied a few strips of tape along each side and that pulls the side tight to the bottom but as you can see that still leaves the top of the tray a little bit loose the solution for that is another long strip of tape that I can apply across each end and that'll hold the two pieces in place looks like I'm ready to apply some glue and once that's dry this tray is ready for the ends and the handles okay fill the sides are complete we're ready to move on to the next step and that means we can add the ends and the curved handles that give this tray its unique look now I want the handle to match the ends perfectly so I'm gonna start by making the handle using it as a template to shape the ends there's a bit to do here so I better get started now I'm ready to begin work on the curved handle for the tray and to do that I'm going to start off with an oversized blank like I have here and then I'm gonna use a beam compass to draw the arc now the beam compass consists of a spacer block that's attached to a plywood base and the beam is just a scrap piece of wood with a hole drilled on it that'll be the pivot point now there's two more holes drilled one here that'll be the inside of the arc the outside of the arc will be this hole and the spacing in between them will determine the thickness now all I have to do oh wait one more thing since I'm working with a dark wood like this I've gone ahead and put some tape down that way the pencil line will show up a lot easier with the layout complete I'm ready to cut the handle to shape first I trim the ends of the table saw now I can cut the curve the important thing is to stay just outside the layout lines and try to create a nice smooth cut [Music] well I've been sanding the handles down and they're fitting really nicely into the notches cut into the tray that I've also gone ahead and beveled the ends if they fit down in between the sides as you can see the ends stick above the handle but that's no problem because I'm gonna use the handle as a template to create a matching curve on the ends all right there's the arched shape this is also a good time to go ahead and cut out the finger openings and the end pieces then it's over to the bandsaw to cut everything to shape I start by cutting the arc shape on the ends here again be sure to stay to the waist side of the line then I go back and cut out the finger opening after cutting and sanding the ends they can simply be glued in place but to help reinforce that I've added dowel pins here and here the handle is also held in place with pins to pin the handle if you drill a hole through the top edge of the side and then you glue in a small piece of dowel then you can trim the dowel off sandal the flush and this projects complete Woodsmith plans comm hundreds of professional high quality woodworking plans right at your fingertips every single plan is presented as an easy to download digital package that includes pages of step-by-step instructions full-color photos illustrations and exploded views retail sources for hardware and supplies plus a cutting diagram and materials list many plans offer handy video 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Channel: Woodsmith

Views: 65,227

Keywords: Woodworking, DIY, How To, furniture, making, Woodworking Tips, Kreg, Kreg Tool, Tablesaw, Table saw, Build, Woodworking Plans, Beginner Woodworking, Easy Woodworking, Cheap Woodworking, Woodworking Tricks, Free Woodworking Plans, weekend woodworking, woodworking projects, woodworking gift, woodworking mother's day, woodsmith shop full episodes, woodsmith shop tv show, woodsmith plans, weeken woodworking plans, making a serving tray, woodsmith magazine, band saw, diy gift projects

Id: XM9VLFjwJoc

Length: 7min 22sec (442 seconds)

Published: Sat May 02 2020