Process of Crafting a Charcuterie Tray with Integral Handle

Come along while I carve out another live-edge tray with an integral handle. This time I began with a very large yew root ball that I found discarded over in Brighton, MA. This is what it looked like after trimming the branches with the chain saw:

The branches of the shrub come off the top of the root ball. The branch in the upper right corner will become the handle of the tray. 

The next image gives a good view of the roots coming off the bottom.

The next step was to trim back the roots far enough to expose the solid and continuous portion of the root ball. Here are two stages in that process:

The main body of the root ball will yield the flat, serving portion of the tray.

With further cutting back of the branches with the chainsaw and band saw, and the initial shaping of the handle, the tray begins to take shape:

Using the band saw I cut the slab down to about ¾ inch thick. With a chainsaw angle grinder blade on an angle grinder I was able to finalize the shape of the handle. Portions of the live edge are also visible although no bark was retained. Here is the piece now roughly made:

From here it is a matter of letting the piece fully dry, filling the cavities with a colorful crushed stone/epoxy mix, sanding thoroughly and finishing with the polymerized tung oil we usually use.