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This is a small “prototype” of a larger serving tray I want to make — of course the serving tray will have some sort of handle. I was basically practicing how well the dado/groove to hold the bottom piece of plywood into place would work, and also practicing if I can actually get tight miters. It turns out that my Delta compound miter saw is very nicely accurate and I’m able to measure and cut within 1/64th of an inch, go me!

Actually attaching the pieces was a bit more of a traumatic experience. I quickly cut a scrap piece of MDF into an L shape, so I could attempt to clamp the miters together. I was basically replicating this somewhat pricey system that Rockler sells. It worked fairly well, except I only made one, and while attempting to join the last piece my finger grip was much tighter than the cheapo plastic clamp I was using. I ended up with a loose miter joint where the clamp was. Since the joint was so terrible I was able to snap it apart without damaging the wood side pieces. If the joint was successfully glued the wood would have splintered/broken instead of the glue just coming apart.

I took this photo before I glued that particular joint back together, so you’ll see in one corner a small gap, I did fix that though. ;)