A Ladder That Levels the Field

Enlarge Image Image Gallery The first ladder, complete and ready to use

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I don't know how it is in the rest of the country, but in our part of North Carolina the only thing flat I can find is my bank account. Wherever I need to work outside and whenever I need to do any work at an altitude, I spend as much time trying to find a safe way to set up a ladder as I spend in actual work.

What I needed, I reasoned, was a "universal" ladder, one that would permit me to work on hillsides, on uneven terrain, and from both sides of the ladder. In fact, it was the latter ladder consideration that perhaps challenged me most.

When using the traditional ladder, you climb one side and you work from that one side. If you need someone to help you, the second person must set up his own ladder or balance on whatever props he can set up. Or if you need to change sides of the ladder, you must climb down, turn the ladder, and try to set it up so that you can reach both work areas.

Tired of the frustrations, I created the Universal Ladder, or the Uni-Ladder. This piece of equipment is so constructed that two people can work on the ladder at the same time—one on each side. Or if you need to work separately, you can simply take the stepladder apart and you have two straight ladders that can be leaned against a wall or tree trunk or whatever other surface you need to scale.

Perhaps best of all, if one side of the ladder must stand in a small ditch or depression, you can simply lengthen one leg, or two, three, or even all four legs. And if you need to climb a little higher, you can even make an extension ladder out of the Uni-Ladder.

My son Robert III and I designed the econo-ladder, and started with a fairly large pine tree that went down during an ice storm earlier in the year. We needed a seven-foot ladder, so we cut two seven-foot sections from the pine tree. Then we struck a chalk line down the center of each log and with a chain saw we ripped the log into two lengths, and from each length we chalked off the edges and cut them away and then trimmed the back side, so that each section of the pine tree provided two two-by-four timbers seven feet long.

It is possible to cut very smooth and straight lumber with a chain saw, and you don't need any of the chain saw lumber mills or special attachments. The attachments don't hurt anything, but they don't help a great deal either. It's sort of like buying grandma an athletic supporter: it won't do any harm, but there's no real point in buying one.

When we completed our two-by-fours, we put them through a small portable planer and cut them down to 1.5 inches thick by a full four inches wide. Then we stood the four timbers against a wall so that they leaned at what we considered the perfect angle for a ladder. If you want to try it this way, lay a level against the bottom of each timber and mark across the timber. Cut here and you will have the proper slant for the bottom of each leg.

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