My oldest daughter collects tea cups. I wanted to give her something related to this interest for Christmas 2007 and it was during a lecture I was attending when the idea for a tea tray came to mind. There are usually bulletins around when I attend a lecture and so it was fairly easy to come up with a few sketches for the joinery and the general dimensions. I went home, measured one of my wife's tea trays and the plan started coming together.
The wood would all be scrap. The ½'' mahogany sides would come from the coamings project on my KrazyKat catboat, as would the ¼'' mahogany slats for the bottom. The ¼'' curly maple slats came from the Breakfast Nook cabinets project. The ebony handles came from a Brio-gauge train project that I made for various children.
The corner joinery is ½'' finger joints. The long sides are ½'' x 1½'' x 17'' and the short sides are 13'' long. That leaves the inside dimensions to be 16''x12''. The ¼'' dado capturing the bottom slats is ¼'' deep and located ¼'' from the bottom of the sides. This leaves the depth of the tray to be 1''.
Yellow glue for the finger joints and for holding the handles to the carcass until the brass brads could be set. I like brass on mahogany.
The curly maple was sanded with tung oil (150 grit, then 220 grit) and I think some of the mahogany slurry ended up in the pores of the curly maple. It helps to "pop" the grain.
Overall, I made enough materials for three. My daughter, mother-in-law and sister-in-law each got one; each unique.
(Reminder to self: let the tung oil set for a few days before presenting to recipient!)
