While Im waiting for my water to cycle (on a 210), I thought I would share some behind the scenes work related to the tank. More importantly I need to return the favor from all Ive learned about fish keeping on this site and for your help.
Basically it all started when I acquired some old oak flooring. Someone I knew was redoing their floor, ripping up their old oak flooring (ie: 30 years old, yellowed, paint splatters, some water damage, etc), and replacing it with tile. On the plus side, there was nearly a truck load of material to salvage.
First task was to plane it, remove the tung, and cut to size trying to work around bad spots. Its amazing how well (nasty) oak cleans up when you take a 1/8 off the top, looked almost brand new. Although, note to self, I really should invest in an actual stand planner, instead of a 4 electric hand planner, grin.
Next was to build the internal frame of the stand.
Add some drawer frames.
Start to apply the flooring as the shell.
Nothing like waiting for glue to dry.
Doors were interesting, given unevenness of the flooring.
Walla, stand is done. I should have got a pic of the gluing of the drawers, but trust me those are made out of flooring, made 8 tall drawers from gluing strips of flooring together, and way too much time spent matching grain. I should have just bought wide oak, but I would know the difference, grin.
Although, then theres the canopy thing. I probably over engineered the top frame, but given I didnt have long oak strips, and despise press board; it was the easiest support to attach the flooring to.
Finally, heres the finished product. I tend to enjoy the raw wood grain, so its more or less natural (no stain); with countless coats of oil (tung-oil is currently my favorite).
Overall I loved the challenge of turned mostly scrap wood into something enjoyable again. Hope that inspires some of you thinking about making a stand yourself, as much as I've learned about fish keeping from you guys...
Ed
Basically it all started when I acquired some old oak flooring. Someone I knew was redoing their floor, ripping up their old oak flooring (ie: 30 years old, yellowed, paint splatters, some water damage, etc), and replacing it with tile. On the plus side, there was nearly a truck load of material to salvage.
First task was to plane it, remove the tung, and cut to size trying to work around bad spots. Its amazing how well (nasty) oak cleans up when you take a 1/8 off the top, looked almost brand new. Although, note to self, I really should invest in an actual stand planner, instead of a 4 electric hand planner, grin.
Next was to build the internal frame of the stand.
Add some drawer frames.
Start to apply the flooring as the shell.
Nothing like waiting for glue to dry.
Doors were interesting, given unevenness of the flooring.
Walla, stand is done. I should have got a pic of the gluing of the drawers, but trust me those are made out of flooring, made 8 tall drawers from gluing strips of flooring together, and way too much time spent matching grain. I should have just bought wide oak, but I would know the difference, grin.
Although, then theres the canopy thing. I probably over engineered the top frame, but given I didnt have long oak strips, and despise press board; it was the easiest support to attach the flooring to.
Finally, heres the finished product. I tend to enjoy the raw wood grain, so its more or less natural (no stain); with countless coats of oil (tung-oil is currently my favorite).
Overall I loved the challenge of turned mostly scrap wood into something enjoyable again. Hope that inspires some of you thinking about making a stand yourself, as much as I've learned about fish keeping from you guys...
Ed
