Mike (Yama) has been extolling the virtues of tripod ladders. So I've just made one.

I only wanted it so I could prune shoots off our dwarf apple trees that I couldn't reach even with long handled pruners - so I measured it accordingly. The upper step raises me 27 inches. But what a difference that's made. I can now not only reach the tops of the trees, I can reach undesirable shoots that I couldn't even see before.

The hardware consisted of a big hinge, some nuts, bolts, washers and nails. The wood was free - our neighbours were having their basement finished and they gave me lots of old 2x4 pieces (mostly several feet long) and bits of plywood that I was going to use for firewood. Oh, and I used a few squirts of liquid nails and a 4ft length of rope that was lying around.

Total cost - less than $10.

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