Lacewood & Wenge Tray - a la Mark Singer

[Keith Starosta]

With apologies and thanks to Mark Singer, I tried to copy his design to create my own tray. I scaled this first piece back from those that Mark and others have done, just to make sure that I knew what I was doing. This example is 24" x 5.5", with the feet 6" wide.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2069/2312570788_d733fcf4af.jpg

I am realizing that my photography skills are not good, so these shots make the lacewood look much wavier than it actually is. That being said, I had a lot of fun making this piece. The tenon is also made from wenge...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3256/2312570874_859716f466.jpg

I tried, but failed :o, to inlay a slice of maple into the tenon, but it didn't turn out very well.

I hand-traced the shape for the bracket feet on the pieces of wenge, cut them on the scroll saw, and finish-sanded them on the spindle sander.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3094/2311760445_f40715f65b.jpg

I have plans to make a few more of these, larger in scale, in the very near future. Thanks to Mark, and thanks for looking!!

- Keith

[Stephen Edwards]

Beautiful Work! I'm curious as to the function of this piece. It's very nice even if it's just a piece of art!

[Keith Starosta]

Thanks, Stephen!

That's just it...a "piece of art". My wife is going to use it to display some nice decorative candles on our mantel. She was very pleased with it.

- Keith

[Danny Thompson]

Could you give us a shot of the end? I'm curious about the joinery . . . or is the tray carved from a solid piece of lacewood?

[Keith Starosta]

This particular piece is "carved" from a single piece of lacewood. In the future, I'm going to use Mark's method of extruding the wood on the router table, using a bowl/tray bit. It will certainly be a cleaner way to do it, for sure. For this tray, I used my table saw and my dado stack. After removing most of the material, I took the lacewood to the router table and rounded the inside edge with the bowl/tray bit.

Here is a picture of the end of the tray. Again, my picture-taking skills seem to have skewed the way things actually look. The tray looks to be bowing, but really isn't...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3212/2312570640_619c752654.jpg

Thanks!

- Keith

[Stephen Edwards]

Hey Keith,

That's all the reason that we need to build things! My favorite pieces to build are things that I do just for the sake of doing it and 'cause I want to!

You can see what I mean by looking at a few photos of what I most like to do in an earlier thread:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=769990#post769990

I think that wood is way too underused as an art media. Everything doesn't have to have a pratical function! What's nice about your piece is that it does both: It's art and it's functional for your stated purpose.

Kind Regards,

[gary Zimmel]

Keith

Beautiful tray and great workmanship.

Looking forward to seeing more.

[Jim Becker]

Very nice, Keith!

[Keith Starosta]

Thanks, guys!! :D

- Keith

[Michael Gibbons]

" Learn by experience and Mistakes" That's my motto!:rolleyes:

[Mike Cutler]

Thanks, Stephen!

That's just it...a "piece of art". My wife is going to use it to display some nice decorative candles on our mantel. She was very pleased with it.

- Keith


And that is all that really matters;)

Well done Keith

[Danny Thompson]

Thanks for the explanation, Keith. Beautiful work!

[Glenn Clabo]

Keith...It was worth the wait.;) (inside joke)

[Keith Starosta]

Keith...It was worth the wait.;) (inside joke)

LOL!! Glad you like it, Glenn!! ;)

- Keith

[Wayne Watling]

Great wood selection Keith, the colors are beautiful. I also attempted Marks tray and found the toughest part of the project was the feet, perhaps because I only had rasps to fashion the curves. I used the bowl bit exclusively to hollow out the tray, it might have taken a little longer but the results were worth it. I also spent quite a lot of time sanding through the grits before applying the tung oil.

Best,
Wayne

[Keith Starosta]

Great wood selection Keith, the colors are beautiful. I also attempted Marks tray and found the toughest part of the project was the feet, perhaps because I only had rasps to fashion the curves. I used the bowl bit exclusively to hollow out the tray, it might have taken a little longer but the results were worth it. I also spent quite a lot of time sanding through the grits before applying the tung oil.

Best,
Wayne

I tend to agree with you on this, Wayne. I will do this with the next tray I make.

- Keith