A fancy serving tray will present food items more elegantly than this substantial section of slab lumber will. But even so, this project creates a dramatic and beautiful serving board that is pleasing to look at and will bring admiring comments.
Given the popularity of projects made from slab lumber, the number of scraps in our shops with live edges are becoming more numerous. You could always slice off the waney edge, but that organic shape is all the rage right now, so keep it and use it in a gift.
Our example here is almost 2″ thick, but slimmer stock will suffice. Much thinner than 3/4″ may be too thin. We cut one of the blank’s edges flat and squared up both ends to more dramatically show off the waney, live edge.
After cutting the ends square to one another, there are only a couple more steps to completing the serving board. First, form finger recesses on the bottom edge of the board. These will allow you to easily pick up the board from a flat surface. Then comes sanding. Sand the show faces up to at least 320-grit. With that done, cut out four small feet.
Ours are 3/8″ x 1/2″ x 1″ … made of maple. Glue them to the bottom of the serving tray. These visually lift the board from flat surfaces, which adds to the “machined” impression of the waney edged board.
Lastly, you need to select and apply the finish. We recommend either butcher block oil (a refined mineral oil) or something like walnut oil. Both are food safe, but both will need to be refreshed every so often.
Now slice some cheese, break out the crackers and enjoy!
