First off I want to thank everyone for their suggestions. I've been
spending a lot of time talking to hardwood vendors and considering my
options. My original design required 300 board feet of lumber and I've
gone back and modified the design so that I'm down to about 200 board feet.
As a result of this need, I am very sensitive to the price of the material.

To construct this I need 72 vertical supports, 48 horizontal supports and
1254 cross bars. Being an engineer at heart, I spent a couple of hours
yeasterday developing a spread sheet that would calculate how many pieces I
could construct out of varying sizes of wood. For example, for each
2"x6"x8' piece of stock I can make: 2 risers and 8 cross bars; or 6
horizontals and 8 cross bars; or 64 cross bars. Calculatiing this by hand
while varying the dimensions of the design and the stock was getting to be
too much. Hence the spread sheet.

Anyhow, after looking at my options I think that I may be setteling back to
the redwood. I'll keep you posted on my final decisions.

-- Geoff