Powerpole/Tree-pruning ladder

Powerpole/Tree-pruning ladder.
For the first powerpole ladder that Lionel made, he simply replaced the top rung of a tall ready-made wooden extension ladder with a length of loose chain bolted and strung between the uprights.

This worked well, and he used it for installing and servicing light-fittings on powerpoles at a campground, however he needed a smaller one for tree pruning and for painting fence poles, etc., so he built this one from scratch and put a flat board on one side for using against a wall and an M-shaped mild-steel bracket bolted on the other side to use the ladder (the other way around) for post or pole use or for tree pruning, etc. 

The right-hand photo below shows it leaning securely against the corner of a narrow brick pillar, something not safely possible with a conventional ladder.


The six rungs were made by hand with a spoke-shave using straight-grained Tasmanian oak and the two uprights were cut from a single slab of recycled Victorian ash.


Photos and description courtesy of Lionel Hartley.

Posted with Lionel's permission by The Friends of Lionel Hartley.

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