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I came across this beautiful antique ladder design one day and it was a love at first sight. Simple lines, utilitarian approach with minimalistic wood usage. I just could not stop to admire the design. By the time I understood the folding mechanism and it's load capabilities I already decided to build one. The build process went relatively smoothly and learn a lot. Yet the project turned out to be more complex than I thought. Consequently, I could not finish it in one weekend. Hopefully, will finish soon and share its completion video next time.

Here is the part one of video.

Thanks for Watching

About:
This channel is created to share my passion for woodworking and build a community to support beginners in woodworking, like me. For me, the woodworking is fun, inspiring and helps me to design, create and relax. By no means I am professional and this is my journey exploring techniques and solutions to various woodworking project challenges and you are invited to check on my progress. I believe in humble beginnings and started this channel with a purchase of a rusty/old table saw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mFRJXUpHN8) and out of it, I build this nice tool () that I enjoy using every time. Hard work always produces desirable results and you can see my progress as my woodworking skills improve. My early projects started with building rudimentary tools like Crosscut Table saw sled () that I needed to finish my table saw cabinet. When I introduced my thin strip jig idea (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7za6_HK76Y), there was much discussion in one forum where it was compared with $300 Inca tool and was suggested that I buy that instead. My response was simple, I rather build my tools from scratch or restore old tools just because I love time spent on those projects. Also, you enjoy using the tools that are handmade or restored, more than ones you spent a fortune to buy.
Sometimes I am just frugal and enjoy nice things that I cannot possibly purchase for reasons beyond monetary concerns. Like the time I wanted to buy a set of squares with wooden handles and ended up making my unique own set (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcS2CLRT_nU). There are lots of videos and projects that promote all wood squares but I think of it as cheating. People who make this beautiful squares from various species of hardwood fail to tell you that they do not age well and need constant adjustments which in my book makes them useless decorative pieces. Projects I work are selected to be interesting and provide unique experience/function like approach to making wooden spheres with a router(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpj07u7AhRk). The fun part about this project is that you can substitute the router with some other tool like a chainsaw and make a large sphere, just for fun. Sometimes I am tempted to build something generic, like a wooden box but anyone can do that so I end up building () toolbox without nails and Japanese joints. I hope one day to be able to allocate more time to my projects but for now, I am limited to weekends. When you become part of our community and contribute with comments, subscription and likes, you will help to create more projects and frequent updates. Your opinion counts so voice it and help others by comments and suggestions. Let's make this a community that supports and helps each other to make the life little bit more fun.

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Comments

· Banned
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2,986 Posts
Not a bad looking project, but there are reasons they don't build them like that anymore. What wood are you using in it?
 

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5 Posts
I used pine 2×1 and the wood choice was part of the experiment. The ladder is very solid and I tested it myself, without any issues. The ladder designs used now are relying on metal hardware, which is getting most of the stress. You simply cannot make current foldabale ladders by substituting metal parts with wood. That is what I like about this design, it distributes the stress and there is minimal stress at pivot point of folding mechanism.
 

· Banned
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2,986 Posts
I would worry about the thin strips breaking. If you don't have completely straight grain running the full length of each piece, you have a fail point where the piece will break. I would also use a stronger wood than Pine, Oak or maple for strength along with the straight grain. JMO
 
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