I am making a 5 foot tall ladder for a storage area in my cabin from Sitka Spruce that I have milled from a windfall on my property. I don't know how to determine how thick the sides should be. It needs to be as light as possible since it will be portable. Most wooden step ladder legs are 3/4" thick and purport to support a load of 250 lbs, but are made of fir or hemlock. Sitka spruce is supposed to be very strong for its weight.
One inch by 5 inches would be great since I already have some milled to that thickness, but maybe it should be 1 1/2? The steps will be 1" thick, dadoed 3/8" into the legs, but won't have the wire understrap that wooden step ladders have. This ladder will not be subject to weather, but might have to support up to a 250 lb. load. How does one determine this?
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.
Thickness of spruce ladder legs?
