Design inspirations and details:  My wife wanted a blanket ladder to display hand stitched quilts that were made by my grandmother.  Rather than buying a blanket ladder at one of the big box retailers, I agreed to make her one.  I had a cherry plank that I bought almost twenty five years ago.  It seemed like the time had come to make something with it.  The entire project came out of that single plank.  With the exception of the holes in the legs that accept the ends of the rungs, all of the joinery was cut using a Japanese style dovetail saw, various chisels and a few different hand planes.  Padauk wedges were fashioned to fit tightly into slots at the ends of the rungs and furthermore incorporated ears that were mortised into the legs to prevent the rungs from spinning.  The cross on the back of the legs was fitted into lap joints that were cut to make the upper arms spring upward and the lower arms spring downward. This design feature created a lot of strength and rigidity.  The finished piece weighs ten pounds but will easily accommodate and support five heavy blankets or quilts.  The overall design was organic.  I don’t typically use a drawn set of plans and sort of work things out as I go. In this case I had some general dimensions specified by my wife and that was it. Interestingly, we did get our signals crossed at some point because she was expecting a blanket ladder that required a wall to lean against, while I had it in my mind that it would be free standing.  By the time she figured out what I was doing, all four (not two) legs had been cut and I wasn’t about to waste the wood I planned to use to make the back legs.  In the end, my wife was happy with the results, and in my book, that’s all that matters!

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