Thread: recycled timber platter

Trav,

Simply Wonderful!! - A nice elegant style - any chance of a photo or explanation of the underside - the legs and how did you assemble it?

Well done

Thornburn

Looks great, Trav. I'd also love a pic of the bottom.

I'm unfamiliar with Australian mahogany. Is the edging also ash, looks like a different timber.

Very nice work

Tex

Originally Posted by Thornburn

Trav,

Simply Wonderful!! - A nice elegant style - any chance of a photo or explanation of the underside - the legs and how did you assemble it?

Well done

Thornburn

Sorry about the delay in responding.

Thanks for the comments. Will try to take a photo of the underside over the next few days.

Construction was harder than I thought it would be, but it didn't take too long.

As for the legs, I made the curved platter (without the legs), then added the edge strips. The strips are vic ash still, but a different piece with slightly less noticeable grain. The difference in timber colour is much less noticeable in real life.

When I added the edge strips, I didn't cut the curve in them beforehand - I left the edging square to give me a good stable reference point for the cuts for the legs (ie to stop it rocking). The hardest part then was to cut the platter into bits - heartbreaking as it looked OK with just the edge strips. It very nearly stayed as it was.

I've got a sliding table on my Jet TS, so I simply used a straight edge to judge some good lines for the legs (so it would be stable when finished), then cut out a strip of the platter the same width as the leg strips.

The refitting with the legs was the hardest bit. I first joined the legs (as normal rectangular stock) to the outermost piece of the platter. Because of the curve, the outermost part joins the leg stock higher (sorry, it's a bit hard to explain). Then I used a tall pattern cutting bit on the router table to gradually cut away the excess leg stock above the top of the platter, leaving the bottom intact to form the legs.

The joints are just glue joints, with pressure applied through tape only. The joints are pretty tight, so I didn't need much pressure. I thought glue joints would be OK given that there is no pressure on the joints. Time will tell. In retrospect I should have used dowels, but it was pretty hard to get it all in alignment.

I then joined all three outer peices to the middle section, using clapms this time. The leg stock was proud of the middle section by a few mms, given the curve, so I hit it with some rough sanding. Once the bulk was gone, I trimmed the edging with the same router technique and cut slight angles to complement the curve. All finished with a lot of sanding and a few coats of oil.

The timber is nice - the ash is recycled, so it is a bit more special to me. The mahogany is very similar to say redgum - straight grain, dense (but not too hard like ironwood or spotted gum). It wa sjust a few scraps that I'd been saving for years for a project like this. The ling strip was actually end joined as I didn't have stock long enough.

Sorry about the longwinded explanation. Will try to post some pics soon.

Trav