Design help for Aquarium stand

[barrowj]

I am needing to increase my breeder tanks to add 4 more. I have 2"x3" Sweet Gum (looks good) for the shelves and 3"x3" for the legs to make the stand out of and was trying to decide if a half lap would be good. Am open to any suggestions as I am only in the planning stages now and will probably cut and assemble it this weekend. I will be adding 2 20gal tanks on each shelf so only 2 shelves. The tanks are 24"x13".

[bleeth]

A half lap (also known as a shiplap) is a strong joint and can be enhanced visually as well as strength with a dowel (or two-let your design sense go here) through the face of the lap. Any wood for the dowel, even whatever is at home depot, looks cool, but even the same wood if you want to make your own will take the finish differently since the dowel would be end-grain.

Personally, I also like blind mortise and tenons. The classic used in Craftsman furniture with a square peg fastener through the face of the mortised piece and the tenon of the cross member looks great but takes more fiddling and hand work unless you have a hollow chgisel mortise set and a drill press.

[Tim Lucas]

I used sweet gum on custom cabinets for a customer, stained it with red oak and it looks awesome! Some pieces have spots like a leopard and streaks. Somewhat unstable for doors though, as the grain runs both ways and causes twisting.

[barrowj]

Dave - I like the dowel idea, I will give that a try and post pictures when it is completed. Won't be real fancy though as I don't display any.

Tim - I did have issues with it but was lucky enough to have a neighbor with a portable sawmill that advised me to cut it (4-6") and let it sit for a year, then we cut it 1" thick which kept most of the twisting down. it' 2-3 years old now and stable. I just recently got 500 bd ft of pecan from him for $0.90/bd ft that I have strip stack in my shop and will leave it for a year. Should be good enough to play with late next summer.

[shilala]

Personally, I also like blind mortise and tenons. The classic used in Craftsman furniture with a square peg fastener through the face of the mortised piece and the tenon of the cross member looks great but takes more fiddling and hand work unless you have a hollow chgisel mortise set and a drill press.
That would look absolutely stellar. :cool:

[bleeth]

If you really want to have fun do through shoulder tennons and cut a four sided pyramid on the end of the tennons so nothing but the pyramid sticks out the other side. I did a small Stickley taboret years ago for a present for a friend who has a Maloof rocker and as a warm-up for a full office set for a client and when my wife saw it freaked out about my giving it away. It's still next to my favorite chair! I admit I took the easy way out and flushed the cross members but did do the pyramids where the legs come through the top.