Drinks tray with leather handles

[JoeAzza]

A drinks tray made from Tasmanian Oak timber with leather straps used for handles.

• The project
• How do you learn woodworking?
• More inspiration for your woodwork project

The project

This is my drinks tray with leather handles. I had seen a similar drinks tray with leather handles, and this was a challenge for me to make one similar. However, I couldn't find the leather handles shown on the original tray. The tray I saw was priced over $3,600 but maybe this was a print error.

The tray I made was made from Tasmanian Oak. For the handle, I went to a local op shop and bought some leather belts. My tray cost approximately $40 for timber, paint and belts. A lot of labour and design went into making my style of tray. First of all, I had to make a box cutting jig for my table saw. I needed the depth of the saw blade for the joints. I then made a router jig to hold the base of the timber. The Tasmanian Oak panel which was 18mm thick was reduced to 9mm thick, leaving the side at the original height to allow for more gluing area on the side of the tray.

Here is the box joint jig.

The base of the tray after being router planed.

Glue up and clamping. I used Titebond III waterproof glue.

Slots were routered to fit the leather handles.

Holes were drilled on the underside of the slots to hide the leather handles securely. I punched a hole on each side at the end of the leather and inserted an electrical tie to prevent the handles from pulling through.

The electrical tie.

After lots and lots of sanding, it's finished. Finally done. Well worth the effort for me.

How do you learn woodworking?

If you're new to woodworking projects and a little unsure, check out How do you learn woodworking? for great tips on how to get started.

More inspiration for your woodwork project

Community member Garima has listed the materials he used to create this lovely wooden large D.I.Y. ottoman tray.

Workshop member GeoffB used recycled treated and Baltic Pine to build this sturdy Portable drinks trolley. 

For more creative and clever ideas, check out our Top 10 most popular woodworking projects.

[woodenwookie]

I love this. If I was making it I’d make those slots go all the way through then route a small channel on the underside.

I would then staple the belt ends into those channels. Then I’d just glue the ends to the tray.

That way you’ll have a stronger hold on the belt and it will certainly never pull through.

[EricL]

Hi @woodenwookie 

Let me tag @JoeAzza to make them aware of your kind words. Thats definitely food for thought on how to attach the leather handles. I was thinking more of the direct approach and using upholstery nails to pin it directly to the wood.

Eric

[JoeAzza]

Hi @woodenwookie Thankyou, I really appreciate it,  that’s another good idea on mounting the leather handles, I’ll keep that in mind for any of my future projects that require this type of fixing.