Extruded Zebra Wood Tray

[Mark Singer]

I have made many versions of this tray over the years. It makes a great gift...This one I made for my close friends Jon and Jan . We are neighbors(they bought my old house next door)

The tray is made from solid Zebra Wood and has a Wenge base. Its beauty is largely due to the detail of the lip being of the same solid stock with the grain continuous. The tray is made by first joining boards to the desired width. The tray is then run through a router table with a bowl or tray bit. I set the desired edge distance from the fence and run several passes taking small bites and increasing the depth each time. Since it is symmetrical the piece is rotated for each setting and run again. When the maximum depth is reached...that setting should be marked or transfered to a caliper for repeating. Once the edge troughs are cut the fence is moved and the process repeated. It is important to leave runners for support on the router table. These are the last sections to be removed. The thinner the tray is made the more delicate and refined it becomes...somewhere around 5/16" is the thinnest I have gone on a large tray...this one is 50" long! When the routing is complete the ends are trimmed on the sliding miter or tablesaw. (tearout is not an issue )
The tray is mortised to the wenge base with expressed joints. The base is detailed to create a "floating " effect. It is a simple project, easy to make and the resulting design is unusual and practicle. This one sits on a large steel and glass dining table (I designed)

[Dave Avery]

Very cool Mark..... incredibly clean design, and, as usual, flawlessly executed. Dave.

[Glenn Clabo]

Very nice Mark. Interesting look...and well done.

[Byron Trantham]

Mark, gee I love that piece. So simple, so elegant, so functional! I don't think any-other choice of wood would do this piece justice. The Zebra wood imparts its own sense of elegance with distinct grain pattern.

[Jamie Buxton]

Mark ---
Cool tray! Two questions:

1) You call the joints "expressed". Is that a typo for "exposed", or do you mean something different? If so, please expound.

2) The grain of the wenge is running across the grain of the zebrawood, right? Does the joinery have some sort of sliding ability in it?

[Mark Singer]

Jamie,
" Expressed" is the word is I was intending to use. It is the same as exposed . Expressed structure in architecture is a building where the structure is visible rather than hidden in the finished stage. Examples are steel trusses or wood, post and beam like a timber barn,etc. The "expression" becomes part of the "language " of the piece. A subtle difference...sometimes an exposed connection cannot be hidden rather than by choice.
There is some movement across the grain...it is not too significant for 2 reasons: 1. the piece is narrow.2. the cross sectional strength has been reduced by "ploughing" the center out...this allows the expansion to result in a minor "crowning" not really visible. I made a larger one where I was concerned about movement...its still ok!
Mark

[Jason Tuinstra]

Mark, this is a great piece. I agree with the others, the simplicity makes it stand out. Very elegant. Thanks for sharing.

[Tyler Howell]

Very Nice Mark. You are going to get me to Quit Yet. TJH

[Jim Becker]

Outstanding design and the Zebrawood is perfect for it's linear nature. Yet another project idea for the list... :rolleyes:

[Mark Singer]

I have probably made a dozen of these and I change each one . I have used Wenge, Fiddle Back maple,Bubinga, Shedua, Lacewood, and Paduk for the tray portion. They all look good. The Zebra likes to tearout but the tray bit works good. I use a matching roundover on the outside bottom edge. The tray surface needs sanding ....I gave one to a friend of mine that owns an art gallery and he could have sold it many times! It was my birthday gift to him...he still has it!
I really appreciate the great comments and love the SMC community.
Thanks,
Mark

[John Scarpa]

Mark,
I gotta smile every time I see your work. Elegant. Another inspiration.
John

[Alan Turner]

Nice work, as usual. Did the dust from the wood nearly kill you? I really, really, really hate the smell of Zebrawood. Keep that DC running!!

[Mac McAtee]

Beautiful work. Could you explain what you mean, "It is important to leave runners for support on the router table."

Are you saying that when you move the router fence over you leave unrouted "runners" on the flat surface and then go back and remove them some way? I guess what I mean is what do you mean "leave runners"?

[Howard Rosenberg]

You have great taste and judgement.
Thank you for sharing your work.
Howard Rosenberg

[Mark Singer]

Mac,
If you plough the tray all the way through...it won't stay level ...it hanges over the edge of the router table. If you leave one small section intact it will allow support and it will be the final section removed.
Mark

[Mark Singer]

Mac,
I think this drawing of the set-up may help. The runner is needed to keep the tray supported while making passes. It is part of the stock and is removed last.

[Mike Kelly]

Nice work, as usual. Did the dust from the wood nearly kill you? I really, really, really hate the smell of Zebrawood. Keep that DC running!!

I remember the first time I worked with Zebrawood. I actually looked outside to see if a horse had strayed into my back yard!

[Mark Singer]

I looked....Its like a horse but with stripes....