Gift Trays

[Lee Schierer]

We needed some gifts for two friends and a niece, so my wife had the idea to make some trays similar to ones I had made in the past. I had some small pieces of cherry and some boards I was given that had powder post beetle tunnels. The tunnels didn't appear to be very deep and there weren't a lot of them. The wood was given to me and had been stored in our small pole barn for several years. Yes the beetles were all long gone before it came to my house.

Since I needed to make three and I needed to resaw some of the cherry for the tray bottoms I ended up making four trays all alike. It isn't a great deal of extra work making four since the set ups are already figured out. Three of the four are shown below. The fourth has already been given away.
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They appear darker in the photo than they are in person. The corner joints are locking rabbet joints. The finish is sprayed polyurethane.

[Bob Riefer]

Really nice Lee, thanks for sharing! This is also good inspiration for using up scrap materials as trays of this nature are always useful and worth having/giving to others.