Wooden trays
First 2 wooden tray prototypes
I designed and built 2ft x 1ft wooden trays using 1/4″ plywood, 2×1, 3×1, 4x screws, 4x nails, and glue. Like most of my projects, I stained the pieces using ”Honey” Varathane wood stain and pre-conditioner.
A handful of my friends liked this project. Among the feedback comments was the ergonomic handles, large size, rustic look and the shade of the stain.
As a result, the positive feedback motivated me to consider mass production and selling; at the very least cover material and tooling costs. In the first round of marketing the trays, I got 3 buyers, my favorite restaurant in Durham and 2 friends of mine.
Pictures below show different stages of construction and a first attempt at mass production.
First 2 trays, ready for pre-conditioner and wood stain. To ensure reliability, the plywood board fits in pre-made grooves.
Due to excitement, I forgot to add handles, so had to improvise. Later, I used a drill press to make nice handles.
I joined pieces using glue, screws, and nails.
Here is the second batch of 7 trays I built after refining the design and workflow.