Wood choices for a DIY stand

[mlheppl]

I'm going to be making a stand for a 210g tank that I recently purchased. I've got 3 types of hardwood plywood to choose from in my area. I could use white oak, hard maple or birch.

From my very limited understanding of wood properties, this is my understanding of the properties that I feel are important.

Birch: It is a very strong wood. It has excellent compression strengths in both the parallel and perpendicular to the grain directions. It is fairly easy to work with, accepts stains and paints well. It has some shrinkage issues as the wood dries.

Hard Maple: Not as strong as Birch in regards to compression in the parallel and perpendicular to grain directions. It still has some shrinkage issues, though not as drastic as Birch. The wood is easy to work with, accepts stains and paints well.

White Oak: Excellent water resistance. Not as strong as Birch compression strength wise, but adequate. It is easy to work with and accepts stains and paints well.

OK, that's my limited understanding. Strength is one of my major concerns as a 210g tank will weigh over 2000 #'s once filled with sand LR and water. A pretty grain is a plus, but I like the grain patterns of all the woods. The stain I choose will depend on the type of wood I get. So, here's my question: Which type of wood would be more suitable for making a stand for this size of tank? There will undoubtedly be additional supports inside the stand for weight bearing. I like all three types of wood. They are each beautiful in their own right. I like the strength of the oak, but it seems like all you see anymore is oak. The maple or Birch would be neat to do the stand in, but are less resistant to water damage.

See my delima? How about some input from you guys?

 

[jake65]

I think oak is used so much because it is easy to work with and readily available and also cheaper than birch and maple. Maple looks beautiful when stained and has a very smooth finish. I think you would have no problem strength wise with all three.
ps.. if you could get your hands on some cherry that would look sweet when finished. imho..lol

 

[les]

For something that big, I would choose a stand made with a post/beam construction. Then use what ever wood you wish for the skin.

The lines in red are the 4x6 beams with the 4x4 post under them. These post were continued on through the floor to piers under the house.

 

[big t]

Les, good to see that your tank didn't blow up lol. Looks pretty good from the avaitar.

 

[les]

Thanks, here is a link for our club site where I have some pics posted.
http://68.185.37.33/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=544

 

[mlheppl]

Good tips guys. I really appreciate it. Les, your stand and canopy look beautiful. One of the ideas that I had kicked around was to build the frame out of metal, like 1" square tubing. That would be plenty strong i believe, but I'm not sure how I would attach the wood skin to the frame if I were to do it that way.

 

[les]

You could attach the wood by predrilling the steel and running the screws into the wood from the backside. One thing I would keep in mind on this is the sheer strength/twisting that can come into play here. The higher you build the more pronounced it is. If I was going to use steel frame then I would make sure to install some diagonal braces, at least on the back. I think the only bad thing I can say about using 1" steel tubing is the floor point loading. At least with 4x4's it spreads it out somewhat.
The stand that my 400 gallon tank sits on right now had to be built in the house. Welding a stand in place was just not an option.

 

[mlheppl]

Good point on the floor point loading. I think that I could resolve that issue by placing the steel frame atop of a piece of plywood or particle board. This should eliminate the problem. If I'm understanding you right, the diagonal braces that you mentioned would be anchoring points for the plywood skin correct? That way the wood would not be able to twist or bow away from the framework?

 

[les]

The wood skin twisting is not an issue, the twist I was refering to is the frame itself.
About the only way to properly spread the load on the floor is to weld steel pads on the bottom of the 1" tube steel legs. I would use at least 4x4x 1/4" thick pads.

 

[mnewby]

one thing to consider with plywood is that the finish face weather birch maple or oak the finish face is made with these skins the whole plywood panel is not made this one type of wood only the face is made of the hard wood the core or interof the panel may be pine popular or duglas fir as to make a panel out of hard wood would be very exspinve for the end product

 

[DonW]

Use whatever wood you like best. Home center plywood is not furniture grade anyways, but works just fine. If your looking for grain of fine furniture you have to find sliced veneer ply. Home center stuff is peeled so it really doesnt look like hardwood anyways, when it come to grain. Home center ply has more than its share of glue blead through. This is caused by to thin of outer veneer layer and the type of glue that is used to hold it all together. Furniture grade uses one glue for the core and non bleeding veneer glue for the outer veneer. The glue bleed through causes blotch problems during staing especially with dark stains. Bartley's gel works great to combat blotch problems. As far as strength goes you wont beat the strength of plywood as long as the cabinet is built properly.

Don