Daughter wants a what?

[steven c newman]

Have been working on a little project. She wants a "ladder" to hang towels on....it can either lean up against a wall, or be hung up there...Some call it a Blanket Ladder, too...

IF there is some interest, I could post a build thread about my version......

Treads/Rungs....
Compound mortise and tenon joints....

Lots of hand tool work...even right at the start..
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Using a Disston D-112 to cut a 7' plank down to size...


You might even see Old Heft &Hubris..
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Jointing a pair of 49-1/2" Ladder sides...

Any interest?

[William Fretwell]

I’ve seen them with blankets on, usually in a store selling blankets. Towels suggest some drying is involved which is a problem when they overlap, hence the ‘rail’ we are all used to. If you have a unique design for this problem, love to see it.

[steven c newman]

ok...Have to start somewhere....hauled a plank to the shop a few days ago....just under 7' long of Ash..Needed an end trimmed off, to get rid of splits and cracks..
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As it would be a bit hard to use either of these two....we have ways...
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Clamp it into the end vise on the bench....
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Mark a line that just misses all the bad stuff on that end...
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The saw is a Disston D-112, 7ppi, 26" long, cross cut...fast, clean cut. Needed a 4'+ length, for the sides of the "Ladder", and wanted to avoid a Problem Child..
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So...measure down from the just trimmed end..49-1/2"....more or less...
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Missed it by that much, Chief....one edge of the plank wasn't too hateful...set the rip fence on the tablesaw to rip the wavy edge off..
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Then use this freshly ripped edge against the fence, reset to 1-7/8"....run the plank through a couple times..
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And these 2 will be the sides (stiles?) of the ladder....

next up, a pile of blanks for the treads
Stay tuned

[steven c newman]

As a result of cutting a couple planks to size...I had a couple shorter planks left over....reset the rip fence to 1-1/4"...and run a few times..trying to get a best pieces...
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And kept out the five best ones..Rungs will start at~ 18" wide, and wind up, at the top rung about 16" or less....Ganged the 5 blanks up, cut them all to 18" long...then the fun can begin..
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bevel gauge set to 12 degrees, or so...mark the ends of the blanks...then set up the mitre gauge on the saw...
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Besides, there is no setting for 12 degrees on my Stanley #358...And..trying to cut all five at once is too much like herding cats....One at a time on the tablesaw..
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Then reset things to do a shoulder cut, for the tenons...took two set-ups..
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Because of the angle being used. Do these 10 cuts, reset and do the other 10 shoulder cuts....nibble away the waste while I'm at it...

Reset the mitre gauge back to 90 degrees, tilt the blade to 12 degrees...
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And nibble away the cheek cuts....after each trip from that, the tenon was fine tuned the old school way..
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A small hammer, and a sharp chisel....soon, had 10 tenons ready to go....more or less
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Not too bad of a day's work? Stay tuned...

[Jerry Olexa]

Looking good Steve...Nice to see the tenons shaping up.....

[steven c newman]

Ok...time to go and get some beads. needed a way to safely hold a tread to the bench...while I rounded over the edges, planed both faces smooth, and run the Stanley #45 along an edge, to mill a groove...

Solution? drill a hole in each tenon....other than hold the parts in the vise to smooth the edge grain...
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Everything else needs to be held flat to the top of the bench, close to the edge of the bench.....The 45's fence runs better, that way..
Face that does not get beads...
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aka the underside...once it is smoothed down...the router can run a round-over bit...
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Then, flip the part over, smooth that face, IF need be...but, wait to do the round over for a little bit...
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As the Stanley #45 needs to cut a couple beads....1st along one edge...then rotate the part and plane the other bead.....IF things are laid out correctly....
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A "center bead" will appear....folded over sandpaper to clean things up in the grooved areas....THEN the router can round-over the edges....tread #1 is done....4 more to do...
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And that was one evening's work....the hole drilled into the tenons? The hole will be inside the through mortise, out of sight. Plus, a kerf for the wedge can be "stopped" in that hole, if need be..

Tread done. Next task is to layout the mortises they will go into.

Lets see....treads run parallel with the floor...but...ladder sides will lean against a wall at 12 degrees. Ladder sides also splay out at 12 degrees....should be an interesting layout...times 10....
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Hmmmm..
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stay tuned....cussing may be involved?:D

[steven c newman]

Now, about them mortises, spent half of a work session just laying them all out...
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First off, the feet needed a "trim", and the tops needed a radius drawn..
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And then cut and sanded until it matched..
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While the edges had been jointed with that old No. 8 Jointer,,,there was a few spots needing attention..
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As stuff like this, makes marking lay out lines a bit...rough....we have ways...
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All nice and smoothed out.
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Then carry the lines around...across the edges..
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With this being the only "square" I could use..
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And, make sure both of the sides match up....

Stay tuned....

[steven c newman]

Roh-kray, Raggy...round up the Usual Suspects..
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We have work to do...
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From the "show face", chop about halfway down....using the lines out on the edges as a guide. Then flip the board over, and chop on down through...and try a dry fit..
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First one is done...only 9 more to do...takes a bit..
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Soon had 3 done....
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had a Pee Break, a Gatorade break, refresh a couple chisel edges, turn the board around and..
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One side of this "Ladder" is chopped....

after 3 hours in the shop...decided it was quitting time....try again Sunday afternoon, eh?
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Turns out, I will also need to bevel the beveled feet...might be a bit rough to do...on my Stanley #358 Mitre Box...

Stay tuned..:D

[steven c newman]

Late start on Sunday afternoon...about 3pm or so....Had the other side of the ladder to mortise....plus, I wanted to "time" myself while doing these mortises..
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Starting right here....had a 3 chisel "crew" for today..
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So....15 minutes later ( about 3:15 pm?)
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Including the flipping over and re-clamping, and cleaning out the chips...15 minutes later..
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Hmmm, even got a dry fit in both....ok, rotate the piece to the other end....refresh an edge or two...3:33pm...
By 4:00 pm..
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had one more to do....4:15 pm...
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last one is done, and a dry fit......decided to try all the parts in a dry fit, with a few clamps, to see just how this will go together...
About 4:30 Sunday Afternoon
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And decided it be quitting time....hands were getting a bit sore...Uncle Arthur (Itis) was talking..

Need to run to the store, today, and pick up a package of wood shims. I can use them to help hold the clamps steady during the glue-up.

Monday? Shop is normally closed on Mondays. May try Tuesday....have to change a router bit, and round-over the sharp corners of the sides ( easier to grip, right?) and cut a few kerfs for wedges in the tenons.

Stay tuned..:D

[steven c newman]

Shims have been bought. Monday has gone away. Tasks for today in the shop..

Run a round over bit along all the edges of the ladder sides...sand/plane sides smooth
Bevel bottom of the feet, sand a slight champfer around the bottom of the feet.

Cut kerfs for wedges into the tenons.
Make said wedges
Do a glue up, one tenon at a time...until all 10 are in place...

Shims under the clamps, and clamp the entire mess together..

Go out and pick up a 6 pack of Guinness Extra Stout.....and chill out the rest of the day...

Sounds like a "Plan"?

[lowell holmes]

See this site.

https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=E211US739G0&p=towel+ladder+for+bathroom

[steven c newman]

Thinking is..she may want this in her Kitchen....

[steven c newman]

Tried a little shoptime....everything seemed to want to fight....Wedges were cut..
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With the usual extras..just in case. tenons now have a kerf cut...set up a router table...
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Changed to a slightly larger round-over bit..
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And, rounded over a few edges...
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Glue and a wedge to install a tread...
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And worked my way along one side of this ladder...
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Would have started on the other side, but
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Waiting on a chip to be glued back in place....

This was the "easy" part....may need some help with the other glue up....

Stay tuned, cussing is involved, now...

[steven c newman]

Story later today..
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letting this sit a day..or three...
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Allowing the glue to fully cure..before them clamps come off....don't want this to fly apart...
Stay tuned

[steven c newman]

Beltsander..palm sander...spokeshave....Millers Falls No.9....even ran the router a bit, to refresh a few spots....Clamps came off, did not fly apart....Then, brushed on a coat of stain, once everything was smoothed and cleaned up..wiped things down, and set the ladder aside to dry..
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Details?
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Wedged tenons....top of the ladder is rounded...Treads?
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Letting this dry, then brush on a coat of Clear Gloss Poly....
Almost done..

[steven c newman]

Rattle can coat of Poly clear Gloss has been sprayed onto the ladder....waiting on that to dry....to see how it turned out....

Think I aught to post this down in the Projects section? Just a simple ladder...

[steven c newman]

Ladder was delivered today....according to the reports I am getting...Daughter LIKED it....