300 gallons of blog!

The stand is structurally complete. I added some lower cross braces between the legs, some middle cross braces across the top, and doubled up the beams on three sides.



If you look in the picture below, you can tell that the two long directions are not symmetric. The side on the left of this picture will be bolted to the wall and will use the wall frame for addition structural strength. On the right, I doubled up the legs and length wise beam. This should eliminate any desire to sag in the middle of the rather wide opening between the legs (greater than 62").



In this picture, you can see that I did glue another 2x8 beam across the short side of the perimeter.



I did this on both sides, though they are not supported along the bottom and they don't run the entire length because of how the legs attach to each end. The main reason I did this was due to a hairline crack I saw in one of the boards (occurred when I clamped the boards together... those clamps are strong). But, I also had the spare lumber already planed and jointed, so there was very little effort involved in gluing these piece together. This should add some strength to these beams even without support to the ground.

The other thing I'll note is in regard to the lower cross members between the legs. While I had these hammered in place during early construction, when I finally glued and clamped them there was some overall movement. As a result, I'm going to have to shim one of the legs when I stick it in place.

Next step... painting the bottom portion of the stand and then bolting it in place so I can sand down the wall framing nice and level (I've got a lead on a portable belt sander to help with this project.