“What’s a tivet?” was the question my granddaughter Maya asked as she looked at the trivet (photo above), sitting on my workbench. “They keep hot things from harming your counter or tabletop,” I replied.
Her baffled expression told me that the concept had not gotten through completely, so I grabbed a chunk of wood and said, “Pretend this is a pot or a pan and it is super-duper hot. What would happen if I put it on this trivet like this?” As I put the piece on the trivet, she replied with a perfectly reasonable tone, “Your hand would get burned.” I decided to just leave the conversation at that.
Small objects like this can make great woodworking projects. Just because they’re small doesn’t mean they’re lacking in details. In fact, the more subtle details a small project has, in my opinion, the more it raises the project up from merely functional to fabulous. I’ll try to convince you of that in the case of this slatted trivet, which measures about 10" by 15" and with a Material List of only two parts (but 17 pieces). Let’s get started!
