Square Dice Tray - Black - Woodwork Samples

Those dice have so much space!

I received another custom order for a dice tray. For this one, the request was 9" x 9" square, wood stained black. The quadrilateral design is closer to the small rectangular tray, but larger, than it is to the octagonal designs. Staining it black, however, was a new wrinkle. Pictures and discussion after the jump.

Normally I don't think of black/blue being a great color combo, but this really works well

To get the black color, I turned to General Finishes BLH Gel Stain, 1/2 pint, Black. (I discuss the finish itself in more depth here). Essentially, three coats of black gel stain on red oak turned the material into a uniform, dark black color. I think the results were pretty great. Over top of the black stain went six coats of Formbys 30064 Low Gloss Tung Oil Finish, 16-Ounce, which isn't really tung oil, but is more of a wiping varnish. It goes on easily, dries fast, and builds up a nice glossy finish.

After the finish was on, it only took a little work to lay down the blue felt, and then off into the post it went.

I decided to add the 9" Square Dice Tray to the Etsy store as a permanent listing.