What does it take to make a great tray? Of course, so that it is comfortable to hold and that nothing rolls off it. The creation presented in this master class meets these two conditions. Made from natural wood and painted in a beautiful shade, it will suit many styles.
Note: To make a wooden tray with your own hands, you can buy everything you need at hardware stores. Choose the color of varnish or paint that you like. But keep in mind that you need to paint the tray with a varnish or paint that does not have a too strong odor. They must also be sustainable and not harmful.
In this master class you can learn how to make your own with a length of 60 cm and a width of 32 cm. If you wish, you can change the dimensions at your discretion. It is advisable to make the handles round in shape. By the way, making slots for them is much easier than it seems.
Necessary tools and materials for making a wooden tray
The lion's share of the work in this master class will be performed by a jigsaw. This is work on creating rounded shapes and holes for handles. To cut holes for the handles, you will also need an electric drill with a 2.5 cm spade drill. Such a special drill, firstly, creates holes larger than 1 cm in diameter, and secondly, it will make them perfectly even. You will also need hand saw or any similar power cutting tool unnecessary parts boards You cannot do without a hammer, a segment knife or massive scissors, a tape measure (measuring tape), a square, a simple pencil, a paint brush or a foam swab, old newspapers and rubber gloves. If you're planning to make your own tray, a bendable metal ruler is also useful for creating rounded edges on the tray, although you don't need to buy one.
For this master class you will need boards made of durable (hard) wood. For example, red oak. Choose a thickness around 2-3 cm. With a thickness of 2.5 cm, you need two boards measuring 6.5x56 cm, two boards 9x32 cm, and one 32x61 cm.
To paint the tray you will need wood stain or stain and varnish. If you carry out the work at home, opt for water-soluble products that do not have harsh and unpleasant smell, and it dries much faster. If it is possible to dry the boards outside, a polyurethane or oil based.
Making a tray with your own hands
Marking holes for handles
Mark the locations for the holes on 9x32 cm boards (see photo). The main thing here is to accurately and accurately indicate the shape of future handles.
Mark the middle line of the board (16 cm). From it, step back 5 cm to the right and left and mark 2 points in these places. Mark with vertical lines the places where the centers will be located. drilled holes. The hole for the handle should be no less than 1.8 cm from the top edge of the board. For example, if the height of the hole for wooden handles equal to 2.5 cm (as in our project), this means that the points for drilling holes will be 3.1 cm away from the top edge of the tray. Mark these points on the drawn vertical lines.
Drilling holes
Using a 2.5 cm drill, drill the holes as carefully as possible. If you don't have a special drilling machine(as shown in the photo), follow these recommendations. Before starting drilling, press the drill bit at the marked point. This will help level it out. During the process, keep the drill strictly perpendicular to the board - no drilling at an angle.
Cutting holes
Draw a straight line on the board with a pencil, connecting the top and bottom points drilled holes. The resulting lines will serve as guides for the movement of the jigsaw saw. The blade should move from the inside of the line. Do everything extremely carefully. Process the resulting hole sandpaper. The edges of the handles should be smooth, without sharp corners.
Assembling the tray
Using the photos as diagrams for making your own tray, start assembling. To a board measuring 32x61 cm, aligned in the center, nail the side walls with 2 cm nails (planks 6.5x56 cm). Before nailing, the lower edges of the boards can be coated with glue to ensure reliable adhesion. Do not nail nails closer than 2.5 cm to the edge of the boards. For convenience, you can use a clamp to fasten the parts of the tray to be connected.
Once placed on the tray, line up the two pieces with the handle holes. Apply glue to the bottom edges of the parts. With or without a clamp, pin the pieces to the bottom of the tray.
To make the sides of the bottom of the breakfast tray look as good as possible, you can glue veneer to them. If the veneer has an adhesive coating with reverse side, it will most likely be glued with a hot iron. If without one, then you will need to glue it with PVA or universal glue.
Using solid scissors or a segment knife, cut the required four strips of veneer (cladding). Leave a small margin, which you will cut off after gluing. Start gluing the veneer to the long sides of the tray bottom. Cut off the protruding ends. Glue on the remaining sides, trim off the excess. Sand the corners (cladding joints) with sandpaper.
DIY painting of a wooden tray
Proceed to this stage after the glue has completely dried. Thoroughly sand the uneven surfaces on the tray and remove various protruding elements. Try holding the tray again by the handles and check whether the sharp edges of the handles are pressing on your hands. If so, then remove a few millimeters of sandpaper from the sharp edges.
Wipe off the dust from the tray with a rag and begin applying the stain. If you do not want to change the color of the wood, proceed directly to varnishing the tray. After the stain has dried, apply another coat if necessary. After all layers have dried, coat the tray with a protective agent. This role is most often played by various kinds varnishes, but there can also be wax-based impregnations.
Note: When selecting protective agent, if you do not want a strong, pungent odor to appear in your home, do not buy oil-based or polyurethane based, but here are the varnishes water based don't have strong odor and dry quickly - you can check whether the varnish is dry by lightly touching the tray with your hand.
This is an elegant and functional item you can make in a couple of weekends. Wood with beautiful design, such as wavy maple, will add extra interest to the tray.
First make the handles
1. From a 25mm cherry board, cut four blanks of the specified length for the halves of the arms A (Fig. 1 And photo A)(read the “Tip of the Craftsman” below to correctly orient the workpieces relative to the direction of the grain of the wood). If you keep the original parallelogram shape of the workpieces, the next step will be easier.
Mark the handle blank as shown so that the grain of the wood is oriented diagonally. We oriented the squares at a 30° angle, but the angle may be different depending on the width of the board and the direction of the grain in it.
The temples will be strong if the fibers meet at the top. Distribute the blanks for the halves of the arms A in pairs and choose the most attractive combinations. Orient the fibers in each pair so that at the junction they form a triangle, the apex of which is directed upward, as on the left arch. Mark each pair by placing appropriate marks at the joint to ensure alignment when final gluing. The right bow is glued together from halves, the fibers of which meet at the bottom. Such a bow will be fragile, since the fibers are directed across the cross-section in several places, and it may break during assembly or when using the tray.
It is difficult to saw end grain, so grooves with a depth of 51 mm are best made in several passes. Press the workpiece firmly with the pusher against the longitudinal stop of the machine.
2. Install in sawing machine groove disk 10 mm thick and make halves at one of the ends of each workpiece A groove (Fig. 1 And photo B). To reliably support the workpieces, attach a high wooden pad to the longitudinal (parallel) stop of the machine. Having cut out the grooves, file the workpieces until square shape with a side of 114 mm.
3. From wood of a contrasting color (we chose wavy maple), cut a 114x305 mm blank for the dowels IN, two blanks 51×483 mm for longitudinal walls WITH and two blanks 51×330 mm for the end walls D. Plan these blanks to planer, adjusting their thickness to the width of the grooves cut into the blanks of the arch halves (Fig. 1 And 2). Set the wall blanks aside and cut out the dowels of the specified sizes. Glue two blank handles, connecting each pair of halves A using a key inserted into the grooves.
Laying the workpiece flat, lift saw blade so that it passes only through the inner wall of the tongue, without touching the other wall.
4. Once the glue has dried, carefully align the bottom edge of each piece A/B and in four passes cut out a tongue and groove with a cross-section of 10×51 mm (Fig. 1a). Saw off part of the tongue wall from the inside to a width of 12 mm (photo C).
5. Using a compass, mark on the workpieces A/B outer and inner radii (Fig. 1). Also mark the centers of the screw holes on outside each workpiece. Make counterbores with mounting hole in the outer wall of the tongues. Band saw or using a jigsaw, carefully cut out the handles along the contour, sand them to the final shape, and then mill 6-mm curves on the ribs. Finish sand the handles with 220-grit sandpaper.
Making a tray
1. Take previously sawn and planed required thickness blanks for longitudinal and end walls C, D. Arrange them as they will be glued together and mark each one for later processing and final assembly. Cut a tongue at the bottom edge of each workpiece from the inside, the width of which corresponds to the thickness F (Fig. 2).
2. Tilt the saw blade at an angle of 45° and file the bevels at the ends of the longitudinal WITH and end D walls, giving them their final length (Fig. 2).
When cutting out narrow grooves on the bevels, guide the wall blank with a transverse (angular) stop, and the longitudinal stop will serve as a limiter. This operation is safe, since the cut will not be through.
3. Without changing the position of the saw blade, make bevels of the longitudinal and end walls C, D 5 mm deep cuts for dowels (Fig. 2, photoD).
Quick tip! For these narrow keyways, it is better to use a combination saw blade with 50 teeth, which have a variable oblique sharpening, as well as teeth with a flat tip, forming a flat bottom of the cut that does not require additional processing.
4. From cherry wood, make a blank measuring 51x305 mm for the dowels E and sharpen it to a thickness of 3 mm, adjusting it to the width of the cuts in the walls C, D. Saw off the dowels to the required length so that they fit snugly into the corresponding cuts. (Fig. 2).
5. Saw out the bottom F and file down its corners so that you can insert the dowels E (Fig. 3). Assemble the tray dry C-F to check and adjust all connections. Finish sanding internal sides walls C, D and both sides of the bottom F sandpaper No. 220.
6. Assemble the tray C-F, applying glue to the keyways, bevels and tongues for inserting the bottom. Once thoroughly dry, sand the edges and exterior surfaces with 220-grit sandpaper.
Final assembly
1. Apply thin layer glue on the inner walls of the tongues of one of the handle-bars A and put it on the end wall D, aligned exactly in the middle. Drill 1.6×20 mm guide holes for screws by gluing a flag made of masking tape, serving as a depth limiter. Then secure the bow with screws (Fig. 2). Wipe off excess glue with a damp cloth. Install the second handle in the same way.
2. Using a 6mm plug drill, make maple plugs and glue them into the counterbores to cover the screw heads. Once the glue has dried, trim the protruding parts of the plugs flush and sand smooth.
3. Apply finishing coating. We used a natural compound (called Danish oil) to enhance the iridescent pattern of the wavy maple, and then applied three coats of semi-matte polyurethane varnish water-based, which will provide reliable protection from moisture and dirt.
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What features should every tray have? Naturally, this is convenience and practicality. In other words, so that the food carried does not roll off it. The product provided in this article fully meets these requirements. The right color and material make the tray very beautiful and comfortable, so it fits into most modern styles.
To create a wooden tray, you don’t need to rack your brains over tools and materials; you can easily purchase everything you need at your nearest hardware store. Decide on the color of varnish and paint that will ideally match with. But you should understand that you need to avoid buying varnish with a very strong smell - this can harm your health.
Below are standard sizes tray, but you can choose the ones that suit you.
Wooden tray - tools and materials
There is a lot of work ahead, but don’t be afraid of it. By following our recommendations, you will definitely succeed! But first you need to prepare the following:
- jigsaw;
- electric drill;
- drill with a diameter of 2.5 cm;
- hacksaw with fine tooth pitch;
- hammer (where would we be without it?);
- roulette;
- massive scissors;
- a simple pencil;
- paint brush;
- a pair of rubber gloves and newspaper.
For a high-quality and reliable product, it is best to take hardwood. Red oak is ideal. Approximate thickness - 2.5 centimeters. In this case you will need:
- a pair of boards 9x32 cm;
- a pair of boards 6.5x56 cm;
- one board 32x61 cm.
Choose a varnish depending on the drying location. If the products will be dried on outdoors– you can take an oil-based varnish. Otherwise, opt for water-soluble varnish.
Manufacturing instructions
Initially, you need to make marks for future pens. There is nothing complicated here, just rely on the drawing. 
Determine the middle on the board (9x32 cm), then step back to the left and right by 5 centimeters. You need to drill holes there. In our case it is very important role use drills with a diameter of 2.5 cm, since this will all affect the dimensions in the end. You need to drill only at right angles, avoiding uneven holes.
After you have drilled the holes, you need to bring them together with a simple pencil. Then go along these lines with a jigsaw, thus forming handles. Be sure to sand them down as they should be smooth.
Now that all the parts are ready, you can start connecting them. To do this, use 2 cm nails, glue and a hammer. After assembly, you also need to sand everything down, getting rid of any unevenness and roughness. 
Only after this do we start painting - this is the simplest thing left for you to do. Prepare the surface, coat it with varnish and let dry. That's it, you have become the owner of a wooden tray with your own hands!
What to give for the holiday to the woman who has everything? Of course, the holiday atmosphere. And you need to start from the very beginning. We only give what we made especially for her. What woman wouldn’t want to start her holiday with a fragrant cup of coffee in bed? And only the closest people know the lady’s preferences - vintage luxury or expensive simplicity. Tray - simple detail, which can emphasize your attitude towards the woman you love.
What is a tray?
Of course, you can easily buy any tray in the store - expensive or not, for everyday use or special occasions. But making a tray with your own hands will be much more interesting. First, let's figure out what it is.
This is a surface on which you can place several objects and move them to another place. Trays must have sides. There are also products without them, but this does not add practicality to them. It is not advisable to serve a tray without sides in bed, since the unstable surface of the bed can cause liquid to spill on the linen, and this, you see, will upset any housewife. So, a tray is not just a board with handles, but always with sides.
Photo frame tray
How to make a tray with your own hands? There are several ways. The simplest ones involve taking almost ready-made trays. For example, you can purchase cutting board without a handle. The board can be wooden, plastic, plywood. The main thing is that it does not bend under a slight weight and that it can be worked with.
Select a photo frame based on the size of the board. You shouldn’t skimp on glass, as you can hide any decor under it, for example, a photograph that for a long time will remind you of a pleasant day.
The frame should be screwed to the board with self-tapping screws or nailed. If the material does not lend itself to this method of fastening, you can glue it. To make it easier to take the tray, we attach furniture pieces on both sides. retractable handles. Everything can be pre-painted in the desired color or decorated in any way.
Old cabinet doors
Many craftsmen suggest not throwing away cabinet doors, but using them to create a tray with your own hands. To do this, take a door that has sides. We disconnect all the hanging fittings from it. We clean out existing irregularities and eliminate defects. If necessary, we rub the places where the hinges were screwed on with putty.
Don’t leave flaws in the hope that they will be covered up when decorating. It is better to eliminate them and not then sculpt decor where the hole or chip is. Decorative elements It is better to place it where the sense of beauty suggests. We decorate to taste. Next we screw on the handles. The tray is ready.
Old picture frame
If there is old frame, in which there was a mirror or photographs were stored, you can also use it as a beautiful rim for a tray. Cut the bottom out of plywood to the size of the frame, decorate the resulting surface with a piece of fabric. The bottom can also be painted or decoupaged using patterned paper napkins.
If there is glass along with the frame, you can use it as an additional decoration. It is possible that a painting stored in a frame can be used to decorate a tray. You can screw the handles to the frame from the side so as not to disturb the design.
The frame itself can be updated with gold paint. Good decision will use varnish or resort to a burner to emphasize the beauty of the design.
Boards in action
If you want to make a tray with your own hands and get something original, you need to take a board and a lath. It's good to polish both. Cut the board with a saw or jigsaw into equal pieces. At the edges, connect them with a strip, nailing it to the end parts of the boards. You can stain or varnish, paint in any color or decorate to the taste of the future owner of the tray.
To make a wooden tray with your own hands, you don’t need any special skills. Next, we screw ready-made furniture handles or make them from thick ropes, having previously drilled holes in in the right places. If you make the rope handles longer, the tray can be used as a hanging shelf, and you can adjust the length of the handles from below using special clamps.
Beauty from plywood
You can make your own tray from plywood. It has long been known that plywood is a very malleable material. If you have skill, imagination and a minimal set of woodworking tools, you can make an amazingly beautiful tray with a unique design.
Of course, it won’t be easy to call it practical, but any housewife will definitely like it as a decoration for the kitchen. The main thing is patience and desire. You can think through the design yourself, or you can just look it up on the Internet and make something already invented by a real master.
Trays with legs
Some tray models require legs. Making a tray with legs with your own hands is not difficult. Currently, you can purchase ready-made legs, which you just need to attach to a homemade tray.
If you want to think through everything yourself, then in stores building materials can be found a large number of tubes that are suitable for a DIY table. In addition to the tubes themselves, there are all kinds of connectors that can act as decoration. If you have the skill, attaching them to the tray will be easy. If you don’t have the skill, you can simply watch a video in which masters share their best practices.
Decorating trays
Making the tray is half the battle. It needs to be decorated. Several ways to decorate trays:
The simplest one is to varnish it. If the tray is made of wood, its texture itself will become the most pleasant decoration. You can purchase a tint varnish that will add liveliness to the design.
If you are not interested in wood for decoration, you can decoupage it on a tray. Always original, fashionable and attractive. Plus it's quite easy to do. Choose the pictures you like, stick them to your liking, cover them with varnish - your unique tray is ready.
You can paint the tray using stencils.
Mosaic will also be a worthy solution. Only to implement this idea requires skills. If a lot of small coins have accumulated in the house, they can also be used to decorate the tray.
The main thing is to remember for whom the tray is being prepared and what the tastes of the person to whom it will be presented are.