Tray for Pyrography: Goat Willow and Ash

 The idea for this came from Emily who needed a window tray to dry harvested beans and my pyrography hobby for evenings in Guardamar during the winter months. The main part of the wood was from brush-wood cleared from "Meadow Brook" when the fence line was cleared during a volunteer day in preparation for a new swimming pool. The 3 mm birch plywood base was purchased from "Turners Retreat" as an A4 size piece that when sanded is suitable for pyrography. I have used these pieces previously for small trays with a giraffe and also an elephant image penned.

The willow was cleaved into two sections, roughly shaped with a carving axe and roughing plane and the ends were waxed and then stored over the summer to dry. The ash stem was soft sapwood with lots of water. It was shaped to a spindle with a drawing knife and then mounted on the pole lathe for further shaping. Again, the ends were waxed and the spindle left to dry for three summer  months. 

The two sides and the ash spindle roughed out before drying.

Apfter drying, the two sides were planed so that two faces were flat and at right angles to each other. I used a smoothing and longer joining plane for this and checked the geometry using winding sticks and a set-square. These faces were the inside and bottom of the tray. The other two faces were planed smooth but their curved surfaces retained. As they had been cleaved from the same piece, they were naturally mirror images and it took little effort to shape them to match each other in shape and dimensions.

The matching sides that had been planed to size with the inside and bottom faces flat and at right angles to each other. The spalting and knots are part of the appeal I think.

 

A 1/8 th inch groove was cut 8 mm from base of each of the sides. I used a Record 050 combination plane to make a continues channel to hold the base plate. The ends of the tray were made from the ash spindles that were finally worked on the pole lathe.

The tray ends being shaped on the lathe.

The final pieces ready for construction.

The ends were mounted on the sides by drilling two cm holes  to a depth of 15 mm. Their position was dictated by the A4 size of the plywood base.

The tray prior to glueing and finishing the base ends.

As the base channels went to the ends of the sides, the ends of the channels were filled with an oak dowels (the ends were shaped to fit in the channel) and a 1 cm strip of the birch plywood. 

Finished tray.