How to Make a Wooden Serving tray as a perfect decor for your home and to of course Impress your guests!! It’s so easy and simple to make over a weekend and I am going to show you how. You can build this for yourself or make it as a wonderful gift your friends & family.
For better understanding, I have a video tutorial.. Watch, like and share the video if you like what you see! 🙂
MATERIALS USED:
1. 1/4inch thick craft ply for the base
2. 3/8-inch-thick wood strips 3ft long – 6nos
3. 1×2 pine 6ft long -1 no.
4. Stains/paint of your choice
5. Feed n wax
⚒️ TOOLS USED IN THIS PROJECT:
Clamps
How to Make a Wood Serving tray?
STEP – 1: CUT BASE
Cut the base ply to size. I made it into 12 inches wide and 19 inches long.
STEP – 2: STAIN THE WOOD
This tray is going to have different shades of wood arranged in a pattern. So, stain the pine strips with dark walnut and golden oak. For the third color I used the pine wood as it is and for the fourth one I used white paint. Stain them on both sides because depending upon the pattern you will never know which side you will end up using.
Once dry, cut them into 10-inch-long pieces with 45-degree angle ends.
STEP – 3: PATTERN
On the base ply, mark the center line and arrange the cut pieces in different combinations to see what you like. I did a chevron pattern and glued them one by one. To secure them in place, you can optionally use a pin nailer .
Towards the end, I you will need small pieces to fill the pattern. So cut them to required size / shape from the leftover pieces.
STEP – 3: ADD SIDES
Let them dry overnight. Next, trim off the excess. I trimmed off the longer sides using a guide and circular saw. With the long side made square, I was able to cut off the shorter sides with a miter saw.
For the sides, create a quarter inch deep dado on the 1×2 pine. There are multiple ways to do this. I used my table saw to cut the dado. To do this, I set my table saw to ¼ inch height and marked the size on the 1×2 and made multiple passes through the table saw until I had the required dado width. You could skip this step and just glue and nail the sides to the base if you want. But I decided to take the dado route to give a strong joinery without any nails.
Chisel off the extras and make sure to check the fit. Next, measure the tray’s final size and cut the sides to 45degree angle. Once cut, glue them together and clamp.
STEP – 4: FINISH
Give a light sanding with fine grit sandpaper and clean with tack cloth. Refinish the stain and white paint if necessary.
As a final step, seal the tray with wax or any kind of sealer to protect the tray from wear and tear. I used beeswax with orange oil to seal my tray. The citrus aroma is pleasant and gives a nice finishing touch to a serving tray like this.
It’s all done, you can add a handle if you want, but I like it the way it is. And I must say that this tray is a great addition to my home and surprisingly lightweight! You can make this quickly over a weekend and use it as a home décor or a serving tray or even gift to your friends and family!
If not wood, you can make a tray with epoxy!
