Canarywood Serving Tray

I'd say the trickiest part about this project is figuring out how and when to fit and flush the handles. They're just glued into a notch. It's easier to fit them in (in my opinion) after the tray is assembled, but they much harder to get them flush and neat on the inside of the tray because you'll scratch up the tray sides and bottom. Conversely, much easier to do all of that before the tray is assembled, but then it's harder to assemble the tray.

Welcome to the adventure, right?

The tray bottom is a solid wood glue up, planed to 1/2" thick and seated into the tray sides witih a tongue and groove joint to allow the tray bottom to shrink and swell over time. So I joined the tray sides with miter joints and reiniforced them with splines.

And the handles - ah yes, they're actually curved and tapered if you look closely. And the underside of the handles I sculpted a gentle radius with a hand plane to give them as much of an elegant look as possible.

With that, bring on the guacamole and tequila shots!

Finish: Dewaxed shellac and General Finishes High Performance Waterbased Topcoat to preseve the color and give it a protective coating