I finally finished the cabin stairs/ladder for the loft. Last year, I had constructed the stringers from store-bought 2x12 Douglas Fir boards. I had used a small chisel mortiser to cut shouldered mortises for each of the 8 treads. I had cut the joinery on treads from rough-cut Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir that I had harvested myself. I had also collected a bunch of local Black Locust firewood rounds for making into hardwood wedges.



I used a chisel mortiser to cut a 1/2" slit in every tread tenon to accept the locust wedges. I tried to offset this slit about a 1/16" such that as the wedge is tightened, the stringer is pressed tighter and tighter into the tread.





Much of the work of fitting the treads into the stringers was laborious test fitting and calibrating with a chisel. Every tenon and every wedge is custom fitted.





The joinery turned out pretty nicely. Not "fine furniture" quality joinery, but pretty good for a "timber framed" staircase/ladder:

Naturally, I sanded the whole thing with rough 100-grit paper and finished it will Landark interior finish penetrating oil, as I did with pretty much all other wood surfaces in the cabin.

My younger daughter was the first to climb the ladder. She was thrilled!

The great thing about this design is that it can be easily disassembled and re-assembled for transport.

I can't wait to get this up to the cabin in May/June! Not long now.