[Wavytone]

Lewis, 43mm x 1200mm dowels will be weak in rotation (azimuth), and overly heavy and the thickness in the bottom half contributes basically nothing to stiffness - but adds unnecessary weight. I could do a lot better with crutch legs made of strips of Tassie oak 30x5mm from Bunnings.

Better would be legs made from strips of silver ash, or milled (with a router and a decent table) from solid floorboards of Karri, Jarrah or river redgum (the latter is extremely rigid, but brittle). Even better still would be legs laminated from thin veneers of the above laminated with balsa spacers, and varnished (would look spectacular IMHO) - supremely light, stiff, and stunning - but that requires boatbuilding craftsmanship.

FWIW even the Takahashi tripod - with its one-piece hardwood legs - was crude and overly heavy - the legs should have tapered to the tips and had the centre cut out - instead of being solid and straight-sided. What makes that tripod stiff is the width of the legs at the top where they meet the head - and the metal head, which won't twist.

Frankly you may as well mount your scope on jelly. The "crutch" design used by Berlebach, Oberwerk and even Celestron is far far stiffer in azimuth - even with slimmer wooden parts.