Bamboo Hors d’Oeuvre Tray

A few clever cuts and you’ll be serving in style.

Written by Phil Bowie and Larry Cotton

Time Required: A Weekend Cost: $10–$15

PHIL BOWIE
is a lifelong freelance magazine writer with three suspense novels in print. He’s on the web at philbowie.com.

LARRY COTTON
is a semi-retired power-tool designer and part-time math instructor who loves music, computers, electronics, furniture design, birds, and his wife — not necessarily in that order.

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN GRASS AND WOOD ON GOD’S CELESTIAL MATERIALS LIST, BAMBOO IS EXCEPTIONAL STUFF. Lightweight, strong, elastic, and durable, it’s one of mankind’s earliest building materials. It works, bonds, and finishes well. It’s such a perfectly renewable resource that you can almost watch it grow — often between 2 and 4 feet a day.

Here’s an eye-catching hors d’oeuvre tray you can make with just bamboo, a little glue, and a few clever cuts. Bamboo poles are available from such sources as calibamboo.com or bambooandthatchetc.com, or you may find some growing locally. Harvest it after it loses its foliage and thoroughly dries to a nice beige.

You’ll need about 6 running feet to yield four 9" pieces that each include a node, with 5½" of hollow tube on one side of the node and about 3½" on the other. You’ll split these lengthwise, then make three simple jigs from scrap: a cutting guide for the 45° angles needed, a thickness gauge to even up the segments, and a peg for fitting and gluing the segments together. Then just sand your tray and finish it with food-safe polyurethane.

The tray is perfect for serving party snacks, and it also makes an interesting wall decoration, hung either side out, when you’re not using it to feed your hungry, green-minded friends.

More Fun Bamboo Projects: makezine.com/projects

Bundle Bow and Arrow
Split and lash bamboo to make a real bow and arrow for little ones.

Safe Bamboo Swords
Nearly indestructible, padded with foam and duct tape for battle.

Greener Surfboard
“Fiberglass” this board with bamboo fiber cloth and epoxy resin.