Oak tray bottom

[harvestbarn]

I am about to make a quality tray what is the advice if I make the bottom from solid timber? How thin can it be if rebated in all round? Will it be best made up of stripps with the grain reversed as each is laid up?

Or should it be plywood with a thick oak veneer on both sides?

 

[marcros]

i made one with a solid base. It was a piece that was book matched, and from memory was about 7mm finished.

 

[AndyT]

I made some very simple trays (not superior!) with oak bottoms and used plywood, which was actually old drawer bottoms. It was about 3mm / 1/8" thick and was glued all round into a shallow groove. Plywood lets you do that where solid wood would need more complicated construction to allow for movement.

Also it means that the trays are light enough to carry easily while being stiff enough to use. I'll post a picture if I can find one.

 

[harvestbarn]

Thanks marcros will give it a go at 7mm would it be best not to glue it in to the frame so it can move? I would like to glue the three panels forming the bottom together probably with some biscuits.

Any advice will be appreciated.

 

[Myfordman]

I'd avoid biscuits in such thin stock. They are likely to show through.

 

[marcros]

dont glue it in.

I wouldn't use biscuits- as Myford man says, they will show through the top surface. When you clamp the panels together, you need to ensure that they are flat too. i used some of these http://www.theenglishwoodworker.com/pin ... nts-clamp/ which are very under rated, and put some weights on the panel whilst it dried up.

 

[harvestbarn]

Thanks both of you two great tips I will avoid biscuits!
I was intending to try the jig method shown in Fine Woodworking see http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/375 ... hin-boards. I have always used ply before so quite a learning curve!

 

[marcros]

looks a handy method.

 

[AndyT]

It's not all made from nice new material like they do in Fine Woodworking, but this was my attempt at gluing up thin panels, and maybe a real-world example will help. These were cedar drawer bottoms. I used two clamps made from scrap wood and folding wedges, just screwed together at a suitable distance. Also two light weight clamp heads on wooden bars - the iron heads are actually resting on the worktop which makes it easy to get everything together with only one pair of hands.

The cedar itself was resting on a couple of thin battens, to give clearance for any surplus glue.

There is a natural tendency for the boards to buckle upwards, so I used some convenient, clean, adjustable weights:

The boards were about 1/4" / 6mm after final planing.

 

[whiskywill]

This is how luthiers do it.

 

[harvestbarn]

Thanks all, completed the tray today decided to leave the base loose in its slotted frame. Had no problem with the base glue up used a method similat to that shown so clearly by AndyT. I reversed the grain direction on alternate boards. Time will tell how it moves!