paint or stain

[Saltwatercoral2]

I can't decide if I wanna paint or stain my stand. All I have currently is my 2 x 4 frame. If I stain it, I was going to buy Oak plywood. If I painted it I was going to buy some BCX plywood from Menards... If I paint it, I would paint it black or stain it black... If I stained it I was leaning towards maybe a cherry color, or something along the lines iwth a brownish color. I'm not worried about matching this to any furniture as the tank will have its own room.

MY tank is a 36" x 24" x 18" tall rimless.

 

[Antonbarron]

You could always stain it and if your not happy with the outcome, paint over it.

 

[Rancherlee]

I can't decide if I wanna paint or stain my stand. All I have currently is my 2 x 4 frame. If I stain it, I was going to buy Oak plywood. If I painted it I was going to buy some BCX plywood from Menards... If I paint it, I would paint it black or stain it black... If I stained it I was leaning towards maybe a cherry color, or something along the lines iwth a brownish color. I'm not worried about matching this to any furniture as the tank will have its own room.

MY tank is a 36" x 24" x 18" tall rimless.

If you decide to paint I'd go for the Auruco Ply at Menards, its an ACX plywood that a bit spendy but has a VERY smooth side with no plugs and VERY few voids in the plys. I've used the stuff for everything from custom home theater speakers and subs, to stand building, to Pontoon decks. Its a BIG step up from the crappy BCX stuff Menards sells.

 

[billdogg]

the choice is yours. I, personally, cringe when people paint perfectly good wood, but to each their won. Regardless of which way you decide to go, use the best quality wood you can, and sand it prior to finishing it. If you paint it, the wood grain will still show through unless you seal it well first or even skim it with filler and sand smooth.

Here's my latest, cherry with cherry stain to match everything else in the house.

 

[houstonhobby]

Great.looking stand. Thanks for the pix. Lots of great wood workers on this forum.

 

[Saltwatercoral2]

here is a stand i built awhile back, i used 1/2" oak an stained it cherry, put a semi gloss coat on top.

 

[jccaclimber]

In my experience staining always looks nicer than paint unless it is the only wooden item in the entire house. Worst case it doesn't work and you have to paint it anyways.