Ethan Schlussler has crafted a life of fantasy. For two years he pedaled his homemade bike elevator up to his treehouse bedroom. He built a treehouse that can rotate 360 degrees with a hand crank. He dug a 10-room snow-cave for an overnight with 10 friends. His property is rigged with ziplines. He even drives fantastical vehicles: he's converted a lawn mower into a rally car and an abandoned Toyota into a rock crawler.
His building/engineering education has come from jobs in construction, as an auto mechanic, as well as logging, metal fabricating and operating heavy equipment. Today, his full-time job is creating extraordinary vehicles for his Youtube channel.
He has milled all the lumber for his treehouses and to rebuild his childhood home on his property in Northern Idaho. For his bicycle elevator, which he believes is a first of its kind, he started with his mom's old bike and a counterweight made from a water heater. He then manipulated the bicycle's gear ratio and added an extra pulley make it an easier climb. For the treehouse itself he invented a friction attachment system so he didn't need to insert any bolts into the tree.
His rotating treehouse was almost a fluke. He was designing it to be supported from the top of the roof to flex with strong winds. “It had a pivot so it could rock back and forth as the tree moved and it would just stay vertical because of gravity. I was just looking at the drawings and I said, ‘Wait a minute. There's nothing to stop this from spinning.'”
Schlussler has spent the past few years re-building his 600-square-foot-home, adding 100-square-feet and making every detail custom: from the raw branch that serves as a kitchen beam to the net-bed guest bedroom to the tree-stump sink.
On *faircompanies https://faircompanies.com/videos/school-was-rigid-built-dream-career-learning-through-play/
His poor mother! 😛 That said, I appreciate his ingenuity and the freedom he’s found to express himself.
Hey, Ethan — Are you familiar with the works of the Swiss ”sculptor” (for lack of a better label) Jean Tinguely? I’d be surprised if you’re not, but in the off chance, and in your spare time (seconds, in your case) have a look. One of his larger public pieces is called ‘Heureka”, which lives in a square in Zurich; that’d be a good one to start with.
You’re nuts, by the way. Which is good. Just watch out for that gravity.
i like the netting at the entrance
Should add a planetary gear system around that main rotation wheel or a much larger hand wheel with a ring flywheel
thank you Kirsten. a one of a kind service you offer to allow us the joy of unique inspirations.
Looks great. Would have too many problems with building code nazis here though
Incredible! I’ve subbed to him now too 🙂
“Pure Genius”…Thanks
It rotates!!!!!
Innovative ideas put into practice but not for the faint hearted I imagine.
You always find such interesting projects and people. LOve watching your videos.