Project or Board?

[Edward Weber]

I hesitated to post this but here goes.
This "project" was in last months WWJ ezine.
https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/project-substantial-serving-tray/

So haw many of you see a Substantial Serving Tray and how many see a board?

I like natural edge furniture and items to a point but not since the last time I was camping did I eat off of a board with bark and call it a "serving tray".

Maybe I just need to pay my dues to The Old Curmudgeons Club and call it a day

The current trend of natural edge items has lost it's way IMO.

[Jerry Thompson]

It looks like a pimped out board to me.

[Richard Coers]

That is a cutoff from the shop of a guy with a marketing degree. If he was at the top of his field, it would be a charcuterie tray.

[Mel Fulks]

As a serving tray it’s a failure, unless it gets a part in another Alcatraz film. It’s good feature is it kinda looks like a steak.

[Zachary Hoyt]

My cutting boards are just boards with the corners rounded to 1/4", and I also use them as trivets, but then they are mostly hidden by whatever is sitting on top of them. It does seem like a stretch to call this a "project" but I would say that as an object it might be more useful than all those striped cutting boards that shouldn't be used as trivets because the glue would be overheated.

[Mike Cutler]

I'm sorry, but it's just a remnant cutoff of a board. It looks kind of clumsy for a serving "tray".
I have three pieces of walnut in the basement, that look more interesting than that.
One is going to be an aux outfield table for an industrial sewing machine. The other two were to test finishes.

[Larry Edgerton]

FWW stopped making me stretch a long time ago. I had a subscription from the send copy till about 15 years ago, by then it had become a hobbyist magazine. The best ones were back in the black and white days. I still have them.

[Warren Lake]

Its a live edge table for Lilliputins.

Am I allowed to say Lilliputins anymore?

[Bill Dufour]

That guy needs to be hit over the head with a needlessly heavy board with no edge containment for slipping stuff.
Bill D

[Bill Dufour]

I am waiting for some one to take a large buffalo chip and encase it in epoxy then sell it, upside down, as a serving tray. I saw some tortillas the other day in the store. made from free range corn.
BilL D

[Edward Weber]

Well I'm glad to know it's not just me.
Initially, I thought the "project" was going to involve making something out of the nice walnut board, I didn't realize it was done.:rolleyes:

I did some "googling" and found many other examples and was shocked at the amount of them and the prices some are asking for..
I suppose I should just sell most of my tools and just go out back, pick up a piece of scrap, come up with a ridiculous use for it and list it for sale.
They're asking $100 for this one on etsy
512870

[Mike Cutler]

Ed
What folks ask, and what they get, can be vastly different.
If someone is selling boards like that for a $100.00 and getting it, good on them.
Those handles, if real, are worth more than than the board by a large magnitude. ;) This are some nice handles.

[Edward Weber]

Ed
What folks ask, and what they get, can be vastly different.
If someone is selling boards like that for a $100.00 and getting it, good on them.
Those handles, if real, are worth more than than the board by a large magnitude. ;) This are some nice handles.

That's specifically why I said asking but many do indeed sell
I also noticed how heavy the handles were and thought for a second, it would be worth the price and the board would be free.

All that being said, I still think it's a design trend gone awry

[Bill Dufour]

Those handles would be laughed out of a real kitchen. Way to many sharp crevices to trap and hold bacteria with no way to clean them out. The rusty surface is also a bacteria breeding ground and will wipe the excess bacteria off onto the servers hands to share with customers. Perhaps they can sell some trays to Ptomaine Thompson's cafeteria.
Bill D

[Rich Engelhardt]

Board - project - I see neither.

I see this (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor%27s_New_Clothes).

Trends are like that. At least this one is fairly innocent. Not like the "open concept" crock that destroyed a lot of really nice older houses.
I'd put this trend along side of Avacado appliances, pink toilets and shag carpet.

Now, if y'all excuse me, it's New Year's Eve and I have to fire up the Lava Lamp for tonight ;).

[Derek Cohen]

Edward, it is all about being or becoming a woodworker. Let's decide how many machines/tools are required to make that board .. aahh, project.

MFT
Festool Tracksaw
Festool Rails
Jointer
Thicknesser-Planer
Thickness Sander
ROS
Router Table
Router for router table
Rebating/Rabbeting bit
Rounding over bit
Block plane (just in case).

Seriously, I know a number of woodworkers who just enjoy having a workshop and the peace and quiet of a man cave. They need something to do in there. Nothing complicated.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Walter Mooney]

I am waiting for some one to take a large buffalo chip and encase it in epoxy then sell it, upside down, as a serving tray. I saw some tortillas the other day in the store. made from free range corn.
BilL D
Free range corn — fantastic!

[Patty Hann]

Free range corn — fantastic!

No kidding... I would love to see cornstalks wandering unimpeded through fields and meadows.
Except it would kind of remind me of "The Day of the Trifids" and I might freak out.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRYb7vhJwPH2GxOFDZtTPc4jTfDeOpWw EAeUA&usqp=CAU

[Thomas McCurnin]

Nice project using cutoffs from a slab and a good way to use waste. Yeah, pimped out, I'd use rubber feet. You could make cut outs for holding dips or CNC the top to say Cheese. Great for a gift. I wouldn't have it in my house, but that's me.

[Patty Hann]

Might easily sell at a Craft Fair or Ren Faire (so rustic! :D)

[Mike Cutler]

Those handles would be laughed out of a real kitchen. Way to many sharp crevices to trap and hold bacteria with no way to clean them out. The rusty surface is also a bacteria breeding ground and will wipe the excess bacteria off onto the servers hands to share with customers. Perhaps they can sell some trays to Ptomaine Thompson's cafeteria.
Bill D

Bill

I don't think anyone would use those handles on a real cutting board. As you say, they're wrong for the application. But they are nice by themselves. They'd really look good on a period specific wood joiners chest.. Just not that board. ;)

The FDA has sections, in at least two volumes of CFR's, Code of Federal Regulations, that deal with cutting boards. It's an interesting read on a raining, crappy, day.
I made a very large pastry board many years ago for friend, and toyed around with making "real cutting boards" for kitchens. Then I researched the CFR's, and needless to say, that idea went out the window. There's a lot more to it than folks might realize.

[Jim Becker]

Those handles would be laughed out of a real kitchen. Way to many sharp crevices to trap and hold bacteria with no way to clean them out. The rusty surface is also a bacteria breeding ground and will wipe the excess bacteria off onto the servers hands to share with customers. Perhaps they can sell some trays to Ptomaine Thompson's cafeteria.
Bill D
That's a non-issue since that type of board isn't intended for cutting in a "real kitchen" (I presume you mean commercial). I see that as a serving board and there are some folks out there that would love to have one just like or similar to it. Serving board and charcuterie boards (also not meant for cutting) are "big" these days and large numbers of makers are, um...making...them. As to the style, this is a very subjective thing. I personally don't like that particular board, but that's me. I don't like all the charcuterie and decorative boards I help a friend make, either...but his customers pay him big bucks for them.

[Edward Weber]

Lets start off by saying Serving Trays and cutting Boards are two totally different things with distinct and separate purposes.

I feel somehow "projects" like this dumb down the perception of what a woodworker is.
Yes it's a pet peeve but it irritates me.
"I saw this woodworker at the fair, he made the nicest serving trays"
Somehow, now he's on the same level, or at least lumped in, with those who make fine furniture.
I don't buy it.
This "maker" community may have some benefits but there is a downside as well. This may just be a design choice for a project but far to often it's the pinnacle of their skill.

We may all be called the same name, woodworkers but we are in no way the same.
JMHO

[Geoff Crimmins]

That is a cutoff from the shop of a guy with a marketing degree. If he was at the top of his field, it would be a charcuterie tray.

I think you nailed it, Richard!