20-minute work tray
I needed a small work tray on which to do my carvings. I didn’t want to spend a lot of time making one so I looked around the shop and found a piece of pine – a remnant from one of those glued-up pine sheets that the big box stores sell for shelving. My scrap was 12″ x 15″ once I squared up one ragged edge. Then I found some 1/2 round moulding and cut it up with miters in the appropriate places. Finding the materials (which also included my two neurons doing the design work) and prepping them took me 10 minutes.
I grabbed some 3/4″ brads and nailed each moulding piece using 3, neatly placed nails. You could use a nail set and then putty over the nails but I thought they’d serve as a nice touch for such a simple tray.
In hindsight, I probably should have glued the moulding as well but I didn’t.
I used a block plane to round over the ends of the moulding on the open side of the tray. Nothing fancy here. Sandpaper would work as well.
At this point I had spent 15 minutes and the tray was completed, but not finished. Normally I’d just slather on some shellac but as much as I love shellac, it is a bit softer than I like for work surfaces. So, I grabbed some General Finishes Polyacrylic, which I’ve come to really like (and I’ve never been fond of other polyacrylics).
I applied two coats to which I’ll attribute another 5 minutes of effort, giving me this work tray for 20 minutes of effort. I went shopping between coats. Now, back to carving.
Cheers — Larry
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