In this tutorial, I show you how to make a DIY Pizza Peel with a long handle with Mahogany and Walnut wood.
Tools I Used
Miter Saw
Clamps for Table Saw Jig
Band Saw
Glue Dispenser
Wood Glue
Orbital Sander
Mineral Oil
Linseed Oil and Beeswax
Wood Species
First, it is important to choose a suitable hardwood for a DIY pizza peel. Also, a wood pizza peel will come into contact with food and it will be exposed to excessive heat.
Mahogany and Walnut seemed like a great choice for this DIY pizza peel. Essentially, they are both hardwoods and I had excess in my workshop.
Furthermore, I wanted the pizza peel to have a long handle and be about 14″ wide.
The dimensions I used originated from the look and feel, not from exact dimensions.
Mill Wood
First, I resawed the 8×4 (2″ thick) piece of mahogany on my Grizzly table saw.
Next, I cut 2 pieces of 4×4 (1″) walnut to 14″ on my Bosch Miter Saw. These pieces were the sides of the DIY Pizza Peel.
Straight Sides
Also, a nice jointer is on my tool wish list.
For the interim, I use my homemade jointer sled with 2 grooves I cut with a dovetail 14 degree router bit.
Essentially, my dovetail clamps secure the board to the sled to get one straight side.
Then, I used my table saw to straighten the other side. I repeated this procedure for all 3 boards.
Plane Wood
Next, I ran them through my dewalt planer.
The boards were already fairly flat, so a few passes achieved the desired result.
Glue Up
First, I placed the boards in their appropriate position to make sure they were flush. I placed the boards on 2 bar clamps and flipped the pieces of walnut upwards.
Then, I used a glue dispenser to spread an even bead of glue on each piece of walnut.
Next, I used a rockler silicon glue applicator set to cover the entire area. I slowly applied pressure with my bar clamps until glue seeped out evenly.
The picture shows 2 bar clamps, but I used 4 bar clamps in total.
Draw Template
As I mentioned previously, I didn’t use a template for the wood pizza peel. Instead, I used a pizza stone from my smoker.
Next, I traced it with a double sided pencil.
I free-handed the neck of the wood pizza peel while ensuring it was even on both sides. Ultimately, it was important to me to have a long handle.
Spray paint cans are very handy for drawing perfect circles. So, I decided to use one to form the knob.
Finally, I cut out the lines using my bandsaw.
Rough Sanding
Sanding is an essential part of how to make a pizza peel.
First, I used my spindle sander with the wide spindle to knock down the rough spots on the wood pizza peel.
Next, I used my small spindle on my spindle sander to sand the pizza peel long handle and knob.
Then, I used my disc sander remove the marks caused by the spindle sander.
Finally, I finished off with my orbital sander.
Pizza Peel Long Handle Width
In order for this to be an authentic wood pizza peel, I needed to thicken the handle.
First, I resawed another piece of mahogany on my bandsaw to roughly 5/8″.
Next, I ran it through the planer to reduce the thickness to 1/2″ and get 2 flat sides. In order to get 1 straight side, I used a piece of mdf as a reference to get and double-sided tape to to secure the mahogany.
Then, I put the piece of mahogany under my pizza peel and traced the shape of the long handle and knob. I used my bandsaw to cut slightly outside the line.
Once the mahogany was cut out, I placed it on top of the pizza peel and sketched the half moon the same circumference as the circle. I cut this out on the bandsaw.
Next, I used wood glue and my wood glue dispenser
to spread glue evenly on the piece. I clamped it down with F clamps
and let it dry for a few hours.
Finally, I used my belt sander to create a smooth transition from the pizza peel long handle to the wood pizza peel. I smoothed the edges on the spindle sander with the small spindle.
Pizza Peel Lip
Another essential wood pizza peel quality is a indented lip. This helps the pizza peel slide under the pizza when removing it from the pizza oven or grill.
First, I used my trim router with a 1/2″ roundover bit
and table saw router table
to roundover the top of the pizza peel and both sides of the pizza peel long handle. I didn’t round over the bottom of the round part of the pizza peel because I want this to sit flat.
I used my pencil to draw a horizontal line across the middle of the pizza peel.
Next, I used one finger as a guide and traced a line about 1″ from the edge of the pizza peel. This line will start the downward slant to the end of the pizza peel. I used my belt sander to sand from the line to the edge of the pizza peel.
Pizza Peel Knob
In order for the pizza peel to hang from the wall, I drilled a hole in the knob. I used my drill press with a 1/2″ forstner bit
to accomplish this. Be sure to put a scrap piece of wood below to prevent tear out.
To add a bit of flare, I took a leather string I found in my shop and tied it through the hole. I’m not sure why I did this – it just seemed like it needed a leather cord. :)
Apply Finish
Before I applied the finish, I used a tack cloth to remove the loose dust.
Next, I used mineral oil as my finish. I applied the 3 coats and lightly sanded with 220 grit paper
in between coats.
Finally, used a combination of beeswax and boiled linseed oil on the final coat. I wiped it down with a lint free cloth and I was done.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I hope you learned how to make a DIY Pizza Peel.
I enjoyed making this pizza peel for a local charity. Be sure to checkout my end grain cutting boards and DIY wine rack projects