Serving tray in quartersawn white oak. The finish is blonde shellac.
In April and May of 2006, I was in search of some good tea cups to replace my mass-produced mugs. I came across a booth at the Brookside Art Annual that really struck a chord. The artist’s work was completely functional and had an organic quality that I appreciated.
I bought a cup, and after I lived with it for a while, found that I had several ideas for complementary pieces. The first was this serving tray. I wanted to work in a similar organic dialect, which meant using hand tools as much as possible. Here, I carved around the handles to express the feeling of a tendon pressing against skin.
The stock I used for the sides had a nice blend of heartwood and sapwood, an element I like to work in where I can. The dovetails were cut by hand with an English back saw and chisels. My shop-made marking gauge marked the tails and pins, and as you can see, I left the score line.
The panel for the bottom of the tray came from a single piece of 6/4 oak, which I bought rough sawn. The stock for the bookmatched panel I resawed using a handsaw, and then hand planed to final width. This time there was this small corner of sapwood that gave added interest when positioned in the center of the panel.
life, revisited 
Looks nice man! Better than anything you’ll find at a site like http://www.servingtraysbybellacor.com
Thanks, Keith. I appreciate the feedback!
It’s definitely a different approach from a mass-produced item – a different thought process really. It was meant to be something intimate, something you could take back to bed with coffee or tea and the Sunday paper and share a quiet, relaxing moment with someone special.