Ethan Schlussler’s Handsome Treehouse is Nearly Complete

Fun & Games Woodworking Workshop
Ethan Schlussler’s Handsome Treehouse is Nearly Complete

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Ethan Schlussler is making steady progress on his northern Idaho treehouse — you may recall the bicycle-powered treehouse elevator post I put up about a month ago. He recently put up a video showing how he built and installed one wall on the hexagonal structure. Did I mention that he mills all his own lumber?

YouTube player

I was curious what Ethan does for his day job, and he told me:

I work for a neighbor doing just about everything. Sometimes I am a mechanic, welder, or fabricator; sometimes I am a carpenter, painter or roofer; sometimes a heavy equipment operator, and occasionally even a logger. With some landscaping and yard work thrown in here and there for good measure.

Ethan also sent me some photos of the build process. It’s almost done, now!

Ethan says:

The build process has been an incredible experience, and I have learned far too many things to share them all. That said, one thing that took me completely by surprise was how much the tree house can rotate with just a minor amount of force. This is primarily caused by the tree itself twisting, which is something I really did not expect, given the size of the tree. In terms of the elevator, the build process was fairly uneventful, though incredibly entertaining. I did have to make a few modifications to the original design to get the gear ratio low enough for it to work, but that is mostly because I did not really calculate anything in the design process; I just designed it in my head and built it in a way I thought it would work, which it did after the afore mentioned modifications.

8 thoughts on “Ethan Schlussler’s Handsome Treehouse is Nearly Complete

  1. Ethan Schlussler says:

    Great post Laura! Thanks for sharing my tree house with the world! :D
    If anyone has any questions about the tree house or bicycle elevator, I am happy to answer! Just send a message on Youtube or Facebook! :)

    1. Rebecca says:

      The tree house is amazing, is the only support for the entire house the vertical boards held to the tree by the thick cord?

  2. UFC 166 says:

    I love tree house. I wish i had one!

  3. Akinlabi says:

    Wow this is amazing. How can I so that?

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"To oppose something is to maintain it." –Ursula Le Guin

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