Federal Influenced Serving Tray

[Ed Nelson978]

Here's a serving tray I've been working on for the last couple weeks. The fans were done a few months ago with no project in mine. LOML said she wanted a serving tray which gave me an opportunity to try some marquetry and this is what I ended up with. The tray is walnut and the inlays are various veneers. There are a few rough spots, but overall I am happy with the project! Let me know what you think!

[John Keeton]

Ed, what a wonderful combination of art! The style goes perfectly with the marquetry and inlays. Your wife should be well pleased. Are those dovetailed corners??

And, it just doesn't get better than walnut IMO.

[Ed Nelson978]

Thanks! Yes, they are dovetails. Guess I could have done better on picturing them!

[gary Zimmel]

Great job on the serving tray Ed.

I agree with John the walnut and contrasting veneers go great together.
I'm sure your wife is very pleased.
And the bonus is you get a few extra brownie points for it....

Well done gain.

[Clara Koss]

wow what a beautiful tray!!!!! she's gonna for sure ask for a bigger piece now so get ready....

[Cody Colston]

Ed, that's wonderful work. I have not tried any marquetry yet but am very interested in learning. Thanks for sharing that piece with us.

[mike holden]

Ed,
Very nicely done!
Did you base your eagle on any known piece? or a local example? or?
This sort of inlay is on my to-do list.
Mike

[Mark Valsi]

Extremely nice !!! That's what I think !

[Ed Nelson978]

Ed,
Very nicely done!
Did you base your eagle on any known piece? or a local example? or?
This sort of inlay is on my to-do list.
Mike

The basic idea came from Rob Millard's work. I searched the web for images I liked and found one that I thought would work. It was a fun project! I definitely need to do a couple more to address some mistakes!

Thanks everyone for the compliments!

[David Keller NC]

Very nicely done. Did you make the eagle inlay yourself, or was this purchased? If you made it, I'd be curious if you used sliced (purchased) veneers or shop-sawn material.

One slight design variation you may wish to try if you make another - I'd consider adding a thin strip of holly/boxwood/maple stringing about the outside of the fans. Because the outer fill-ins are dark (ebony?) and the walnut is also dark, a thin strip around the circumference would make them really stand out.

Nice work - and too nice to put a hot pot of tea on!

[Ed Nelson978]

Thanks David.

Your comments are valid and I did think about adding the stringing around the eagle, but I wasn't really sure how to go about it. I guess I could have cut a template, but at that point I was scared of screwing up! The dark area between the inlay and walnut is just the glue line with some walnut dust fill.

The veneers were store bought. I used a knife to cut the pattern. I'll likely try fret work on the next one.

By the way, have you ever stopped by NCWW?

[John Thompson]

Excellent job Ed and it looks great. Rob does the Federal very well. As far as better pics of the DT's.. walnut is not going to give really clear shots of them being so dark. The piece just looks good over-all..

[David Keller NC]

Ed - Yeah, I'm a member of NCwoodworker, but I suffer from "too many woodworking forums" syndrome, so I don't post all that often.