From The Shop: Cheese & Cracker Server

From The Shop: Cheese & Cracker Server 3 comments

The design for this Cheese & Cracker Serving Tray published in Woodsmith issue # 214. Great design, I thought … but that’s a story for another day.

I made 6 of these servers. All have cherry frames, with the cutting board insert being either end grain hard maple, end grain walnut, or edge grain walnut. All will be for sale this weekend at the SCV Junction, which is the first fall event for Mrs Ms Handmade. See you there!

Here is the progression through 11 days in the shop.

First step: figure out the right angle for a table saw cove cut to get the right cove cut width.

With the temporary fence set up on the saw at the right angle …

… cutting the cove cut begins.

Multiple passes required to make the proper cove cut.

I’m making 6x of these servers in one cycle.

Sanding a cove cut requires a few tools.

This flap sander is great for sanding round cuts like this cove cut.

The two ends of the servers can now be cut apart.

Mark the positions of the end piece coves onto the side pieces so the holes drilled for the dowels will not intersect.

Each side piece gets drilled through in 4 places.

The end pieces are cut to a 30 degree angle on each side.

The side pieces are then cut to a matching 30 degree angle to fit against the end pieces.

The glue up of the server has to be done with pressure from 4 directions at once.

The side pieces were drilled for the dowels on the drill press; it’s now time to extend those holes into the end pieces.

The dowel holes are deep (up to the masking tape marker) so the cross-grain, glued-in dowel will add strength to the end/side glue joint.

Time to smooth the cutting board insert glue ups.

The ends of the sides and ends have to be cut away to reveal the handles.

A tall auxilary fence on the table saw makes this vertical cut a snap.

The outside of the frame is also cut to 30 degrees.

Round the handles on the bandsaw.

Shape the cutting board inserts to fit.

Sanding begins.

Nothing beats a sharp chisel for cleaning up hardened glue in a complex shape.

The hold down on the bench (the black thing holding down the edge of the server) is the best tool to hold the piece in place while the underside curves of the handle get cleaned up.

Sanding is never a snap. Dust collection helps, but I’m still covered in dust after sanding with seven different machines, working up through 5 different grits.