Some Sample Serving Trays

P. Michael Henderson

Here are a few samples of veneered serving trays I've made.  The final design is only limited by your imagination, however.

This first is an eight sided tray with a compass rose inlaid in the center.  The compass rose is holly (light wood) and wenge (dark wood).  The field is waterfall bubinga.  Every selection of bubinga is different so this sample should be taken as representative.  The filetti (trim) is bloodwood (red) bordered with holly (white strips).  The border is walnut, and the sides are walnut.  The back is done in walnut veneer laid in a sixteen piece sunburst.

The tray is about 18 inches wide and the sides are about 2 inches high.  Essentially any size tray can be made and the sides can be made almost any height, but there must be enough height to put the hand holds in.  Two inches on the sides is about the minimum.

The tray can be done without the compass rose, as shown below.  This tray is about 18 inches wide with sides about 2 inches high.  The field is done in waterfall bubinga laid in a sunburst pattern.  Again, note that every selection of bubinga is different - I try to select interesting designs.

The trays can also be done six sided.  Here's an example of a six sided tray with a bubinga field, bloodwood filetti and walnut border and sides.  The eight sided tray allows a more interesting pattern to the bubinga because there are more pieces to the sunburst, but when a compass rose is inlaid, the six sided tray allows the compass rose to be aligned with the two "outside" corners and the hand holds.

I also make rectangular trays in a wide variety of patterns.  Below is a tray with a field of walnut burl, a trim of commercial banding and a border and sides of walnut.  It was hard to get a picture of this tray- I kept getting reflections in the finish which makes it look cloudy.  The back is done in walnut veneer.  This tray is about 20 inches long and about 14 inches wide.

Here's a more complex pattern in a rectangular tray.  The field pattern is known as "Louis cubes", named after king Louis XIV of France.  The cubes are made of maple, walnut, and pecan (if I recall correctly).  The banding is commercial and the border and sides are walnut.  This tray is about 21 inches long and a bit over 13 inches wide. 

The sides of these trays can be made in a variety of ways.  For the walnut burl tray I made the sides the same height all around, about two inches high.

For the Louis cubes tray, I make the hand hold sides higher than the other sides.  It's about 2.5 inches on the sides and about 4 inches where the hand holds are.

Trays can be made in almost any size, any wood, and a wide variety of decorative patterns in the field area.  While the panels shown below are not trays, the pattern (or pieces of the pattern) in these can be used in a tray.

This first panel has a compass rose in the center, a field of bubinga, sand shaded fans in the corners, filetti of bloodwood and holly, and a border of wenge.

The next panel is in a pattern known as "Basket weave".  The weave is sand shaded maple with vertical strips of holly.  The filetti is wenge and holly and the border is ash.

This panel uses a Celtic knot (with sand shading) as the centerpiece, a field of bubinga, commercial banding and a walnut border.

The cost of a tray depends on the complexity of the work.  Rectangular trays are a bit less expensive than the six or eight sided trays.  Send me an e-mail and let me know what shape and design is of interest to you and I'll get back to you with a price.  As of 2/19/2011 I'm in the middle of moving my shop so projects will be delayed until I can get set up in my new location.

Contact Mike Henderson at mike@mikes-woodwork.com for more information.