Looking for new tea tray recommendations

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OCTO
Posts: 1120
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 6:25 pm
Location: Penang, Malaysia

Sat Nov 14, 2020 1:36 am

Exploring a new tea tray idea.... the fragrance from the cypress wood is extremely calming and grounding.... 😂😂😂

Cheers!!

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OCTO
Posts: 1120
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Location: Penang, Malaysia

Sat Nov 14, 2020 5:26 pm

Exploring new options.... for a wetter brew, gungfu style.

Cheers!!

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gregcss
Posts: 85
Joined: Tue Dec 11, 2018 8:43 pm
Location: Virginia, US

Sat Nov 14, 2020 6:06 pm

wave_code wrote:
Fri Nov 13, 2020 12:45 pm
I recently picked up a new tray because my old one was falling apart and was too small to begin with. I was looking for a ceramic base one, but went for a cheaper bamboo one because it was available locally. While its nice being able to brew very wet if I want, the problem is its also what starts to ruin the tray quickly. If the lacquering or coating of the tray isn't done well even starting with just a tiny little bit of water if it gets underneath that it starts to bubble because it can't evaporate out of the wood/bamboo, then more gets under, and then it cracks, and starts to peel, and before you know if you've lost the entire coating. This thing should still last me a good long while, but if I get another tray it will be at minimum ceramic base, if not all ceramic, or just go for the teapot boat on some sort of lacquered wood or stone slab.
I replaced a bamboo tray that served me well for several years, but as you mentioned above it eroded and was time to get something else.
gregcss
Posts: 85
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Location: Virginia, US

Sat Nov 14, 2020 6:06 pm

@OCTO
Beautiful wood pieces
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OCTO
Posts: 1120
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Location: Penang, Malaysia

Sat Nov 14, 2020 7:06 pm

gregcss wrote:
Sat Nov 14, 2020 6:06 pm
OCTO
Beautiful wood pieces
TQ @gregcss.. :) :)
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wave_code
Posts: 575
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2018 2:10 pm
Location: Germany

Sun Nov 15, 2020 4:41 am

very nice @OCTO. I had recently been thinking about trying to make something myself and thought Hinoki would be really nice. Its easy enough to find cutting boards and trays and things already, maybe just cut some holes if one wants a drainage point and done. I love the look, but I feel a bit guilty that it isn't really a particularly sustainable wood to work with from what I understand. Then again, replacing trays with cheap plastic lacquering that flakes off isn't very sustainable either as opposed to something that lasts a lifetime or longer if it is cared for.
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Bok
Vendor
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Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:26 am

wave_code wrote:
Sun Nov 15, 2020 4:41 am
very nice OCTO. I had recently been thinking about trying to make something myself and thought Hinoki would be really nice. Its easy enough to find cutting boards and trays and things already, maybe just cut some holes if one wants a drainage point and done. I love the look, but I feel a bit guilty that it isn't really a particularly sustainable wood to work with from what I understand. Then again, replacing trays with cheap plastic lacquering that flakes off isn't very sustainable either as opposed to something that lasts a lifetime or longer if it is cared for.
Hinoki is nice, but as you said, not sustainable. In Taiwan it’s forbidden to harvest, so illegal logging it is... the Japanese robbed Taiwan blank of these trees during their colonial time. If you go to Kyoto all the temples thickest wood columns are all from Taiwan. Pretty, but also sad.

What about good old German oak? Or even better bog oak if you can find it. Lots of native wood to be found.

In any case I still prefer to put a nice bowls or else on a nice wooden table. Best of both worlds :)
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wave_code
Posts: 575
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Location: Germany

Mon Nov 16, 2020 7:13 am

Oh wow, I had no idea about that situation- another good reason to avoid it altogether. A shame as it looks and smells great, but what can ya do. Bog oak is a nice idea though as a hardwood substitution.

As for what would be the most sustainable thing here in Germany outside of using recycled wood I really am not sure at this point, something that would be good to look into. Forests are highly managed here for production so a lot of them look like tree warehouses to me compared to the forests in Scandinavia or a lot of the US. And then as a result of things being so managed and really bad monoculture growing the forests here seem to be in real trouble. Years of drought and climate change combined with bark beetles moving in are killing off tons of trees and you can see huge patches of forest missing all over the place, or entire parts of them that are dead but still standing. You can't leave the dead wood around then either because you get more beetles so that also hurts the wood decayers and the fungal population that is in symbiosis with the trees, which means more bad news for new tree roots... Recycling as much as possible would certainly be the best way to go right now.
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teabooksart
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Mon Nov 16, 2020 11:27 am

My current "large" tray has a pull out basket but the drain tube is sealed off. I got this one secondhand for relatively cheap but I've seen them at reasonable prices on ebay, aliexpress, etc.
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And my smaller one I got off ebay as well. I searched for porcelain bamboo tea tray and there were a few options that came up. I like this one because it's small but still has enough room.
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joelbct
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Location: NY

Wed Nov 18, 2020 10:13 pm

This is my current setup. I used to have many nice kyusu, chawan, yunomi, etc. But, the glass is easy to clean. Tray was $22 from Amazon.

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