These condiment servers are a great way to serve your favorite dip recipes.  The three different styles cater to three different tastes.  The quarter sawn oak had a beautiful grain and was cleared over for protection, while the square dish server was done in ebony stain for a contemporary look.  All are great gift ideas for the holidays or any other occasion.  The possibilities of what you can put in them are endless.  I thought they would be great to hold hamburger toppings.

I started with making a hardboard template for the four ramekin server.

 

Using a compass I marked out the locations for the cut outs.  It was at this point I realized I didn’t need to cut but one opening.  When it came time to router out the material, I could just rotate the template.

I drilled a hole near the line just big enough for a jigsaw blade to fit through.  You can then cut out the circle leaving the pencil line.

 

I used my oscillating spindle sander to then sand right up to the line.  You could also use a drum sander or even a piece of sandpaper.

 

Then at the table saw I squared the quarter sawn oak to it’s final size of 9″ x 9″.

 

 

I then routed all four areas to an approximate depth of 3/8″.

At this point it looked a little plain.  I added a random angle bevel to the bottom of each of the four edges.

 

I didn’t bother with a tape measure for finding the width of the second holder.  One of the containers flipped upside down at the table saw made a great guide for how wide the piece should be.  The container plus and inch or two worked out well.

 

Then you can move on to square up each of the ends.

 

A 45° cut can be made on both ends creating each of the legs.  Flip the main piece over and cut off the miters in the other direction.

 

Making this type of cut ensures that the grain will continue and wrap around the project.  It gives it a very nice look.

 

I made a template for this piece the same way as I did the first, and marked the openings with a pencil.

 

Cutting out the bulk of the wood can be done the same way as the pattern.  Then the holes can either be sanded or routed flush to the pattern using a flush trim bit.

 

A 1/8″ round-over bit to ease the edges is not required but it will give the piece a nice finished look.

 

Using a chunk of scrap wood cut to the inside dimension of the holder allows me to use a strap clamp to glue the oak together.  Making it fastener free, for a very clean look.

 

Using an adjustable t-bevel, I found the angle of the square containers, allowing me to set the table saw blade to the correct angle.

 

I could then rip cut the oversized board on the table saw.

This center section is then cut at the same angle to create the center container dividers.

 

Applying glue to the dividers and clamping each side ever so slightly made for an easy glue up.

 

When the dividers started to raise up a little bit, I put a level across the pieces and pushed then down with some weight.  If the center dividers don’t lay completely flat, the clamps can be loosened up a tiny bit.

 

Once the glue had dried, I ripped the completed section down to final length and width using the same angle as before.

 

Using the rip cut-offs, I then cut four “feet” to be glued on in the next step.

 

A tiny bit of glue was used (to prevent glue squeeze out) and spring clamps held the feet in place as the glue dried.

 

The one that my wife wanted was stained with black ebony stain.  All container holders then received 3 coats of lacquer, I sanded them lightly, and added three more coats.

 

 

Once they were filled with some goodies, I made sure to throughly test them out.