They say that the best thing to do when you fall off a horse is to get back on one. In that spirit, and because I somehow need to get up to my mezzanines, I built a pair of ladders that will not do what the aluminum extension ladder that I'd been using for 12 years did, namely, evaporate from underneath me as I made the transition from ladder to deck.
After googling wood ladders I was surprised to find that many fire departments use wood ladders, some of them over 100 years old (see San Francisco Fire Department). Fir is used for the rails and hickory for the rungs. These are fir and pecan. Old grippy shoe soles were cut up on the bandsaw for floor contact, but it's salient feature are the hooks, painted a lovely Day-Glo pink, just in case no one notices. Half dovetails cut with the now indispensable MFT Festool table were used for the tread joinery.
Pics, of course:
Brown shoes will make it.
Follow Us!