We have all experienced the frustration of trying to string up the Christmas lights around the house or in the yard, but most of all for me, it's hanging lights in the large trees in my front yard. That's why I built my Christmas Lights Installer Pole. The pole allows me to stand at ground level or on a small step ladder and accurately hang the lights up in the trees. Additionally, I have installed cup hooks on the borders of my house for the lights. I use this pole to stand on the ground and hang the lights and can do it quickly since I don't have to keep moving a ladder! Using this pole has saved me a great deal of frustration and I made it at Tech Shop.

http://www.techshop.ws/ts_chandler.html

Step 1: Gather Some Parts

You'll need the following parts in order to build the pole.
- A fiberglass extendable pole.

This is the sort of pole used for changing light bulbs in tall ceiling rooms, or you see them with saws or prunes attached for trimming trees. There are a wide variety of uses for these poles and you can find them at your local hardware store. The one you see in my photos I bought at a yard sale fairly cheap and had a saw attached to it. The reason the guy was selling it was that the fiberglass had started to degrade and handling it gave off glass fibers into your hand. I wrapped it with heavy cloth tape (gaffers tape) to cure that issue and ended up with a great pole.

-A small spring loaded clamp

You'll want to get a small clamp, not a large one. It seems as though the larger the clamp the more difficult it is to squeeze. If you can't squeeze it with just your fingertips, it's probably too heavy of a spring for this application.

-Small "L" bracket
-A few miscellaneous nuts, bolts, and washers
- A length of cord longer than the extended length of your pole.

550 cord would probably work well for this, but I used some surplus cord I had laying around.

Step 2: Assembly

Line up the "L" bracket on the top end of the pole and drill through the pole where the holes in the bracket line up with the flat surface of the pole.

Then lay the clamp on the "L" bracket and drill at least two holes to mount the clamp to the "L" bracket.

Drill a hole large enough for your cord to pass through, between the two bolt holes that hold the "L" bracket and clamp together.

Now bolt the whole thing together as shown in this illustration. Make certain to use washers on the back side of the fiberglass to prevent it from fracturing.

Step 3: Finishing Touch

Run the cord through the hole you drilled in the "L" bracket and clamp, then through a second hole on the other side of the clamp. It's important to note that the further away from the jaw of the clamp on the free, unmounted end of the clamp, the more leverage you will have during the use of the pole. Once you run the cord through the clamp, tie a knot in the end of the cord. Make the knot large enough that it won't allow the cord to slide back through the hole.

Tie a small hand loop in the other end of the cord.

Now you can clamp on to a string of Christmas lights, raise the pole to the desired location, pull on the cord to release the string of lights. It's as easy as that!

The pole can also be used to retrieve kites from trees, or (heaven forbid) toilet paper from trees or the roof, or a number of other things that require an additional reach. I've used mine to run wires in tight places in my attic!

Enjoy!