How to Build and Use A-Frame Level | Permaculture Tools | Heirloom Permaculture

In this episode, we show you how to build and use an a-frame level for finding contour on your property. This can be done to construct swales for rainwater harvesting, for identifying high water levels or even for creating level walking paths.
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[@CasaoDaFloresta]

Thanks for your content. Wish you everything good

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

I appreciate that!

[@rasnaforester482]

thank you 👍👍

[@gaza1677]

Best video so far 👍

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

Glad you liked it

[@BeaverBill]

Love the dramatic music! Haha. Thanks for the video. I’m gonna try the same exercise.

[@andrewfederle7820]

Thank you very much for your straightforward and encouraging video. Thanks to you, I’ve built my first permaculture tool.

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

Very welcome

[@colettebookmyer3765]

thanks for the easy explanation!!!!!

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ourselfreliantlife]

The A frame! A classic tool for sure. Great info y'all.

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

Thanks!

[@johnlee7085]

The nice thing is it could double for making a post plumb. As a level though, it seems less precise than a water level.

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

In the applied use here, we're not looking for the precision of other tools. Just need to cover ground and establish a general topography. There's a greater potential of error that will be created by any excavation than by the accuracy of this tool. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@JonathanBydendyk]

Great example, didn't even think of making it collapsable, but will now 👍

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

Glad it was helpful!

[@samstewart4444]

The whole time you were working, I kept imagining Romans laying out aqueducts to exact slopes. What a great survey tool. You can use it to analyse large areas to arbitrary precision.

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

It's definitely not the high precision method but it'll get you where ya need for overall design improvement or understanding. We have a laser transit for large project or extreme accuracy.

[@lilpeggilley8891]

Thank you for this, y'all!!! Exactly the instruction I've been looking for!! :) 🎉 I think I can, I think I can!! ;) 😅

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

Happy to help!

[@simplegrower5838]

I got so busy that I missed this post of yours. Oh well, watching it now. So that's an A frame leveler.

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

Yes it is! Thanks Deb!

[@LoneStarLiving]

Interesting tool build. Thanks for sharing y’all!

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

You're welcome. And thank you for watching!

[@FarmingOurBackyard]

Neat tool, thanks for sharing it with us.

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

You're welcome! There'll be more videos soon.

[@richardfrascone24]

Well done, thank you!!

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

Glad it was helpful!

[@adventitiousoklahoman6139]

Great tips

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

Thanks!

[@hardnackfarms1736]

Enjoying your videos trying to catch up today! Thank you so much for sharing! Wendy ❤️🐞

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

Thanks for following along!

[@Citystead]

Nice such an easy and simple tool but so useful

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

Very handy

[@PathwaysHomestead]

Great video! I'm enjoying learning new aspects of Permaculture.

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

Thanks! We're trying to make content of useful value. Lol

[@PathwaysHomestead]

@@HeirloomPermaculture You are doing great!

[@Tamime1]

عمل مميز 🌹

[@user-zi1ff1xi3m]

G'day, could you attach a builder's spirit level to the cross member to get the same outcome, by the way interesting music. From South West of western Australia

[@inyayardhomestead5693]

G'day guys, So cool. Great and informative vid thanks and God bless you guys.

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

Thanks Josh!

[@rebeccawallace4240]

Yall this is so neat ,my brother just in the last year built his own

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

Thanks! It's a good tool to have.

[@o.o1163]

Thank you for sharing🤗😊. I'm new to your channel and I'm looking forward to learning from you:-)

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

Welcome!

[@joemc111]

Has anyone tested their A Frame level to see how precise it is? If you have a pond you can start on the pond a foot or so above the water. Work your way around the pond until you get back to where you started. So how close to your starting point are you?

[@rhysgerwin4902]

The music at 14:00 is making me laugh XD Love the video, thank you!

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

The suspense of planting your flag! Lol

[@juliehorney995]

Well done! I am now ready to mark off our first swale. Can a swale be in sections along a slope or should it always be continuous? We have 3 new fruit guilds and I was thinking of putting a mini swale on the upside of each; all are along the same slope. Thanks.

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

Mini swales above trees will work. The watering effect carries downhill a ways if your soil is permeable enough. You're basically building a horseshoe basin uphill to capture and sink the runoff without directing it across the elevation. You want the water to be gone within 2 or 3 days after a filling rain. Any longer, you'll start seeing negative effects like pests and too wet soil. Adjust the spillway as needed.

[@mandiegarrett1706]

I will be building this but instead of using the string with weight, I decided to screw in water bubble because the string won't work in our area due to we get a lot of high wind. Would that work the same? Also, I was hoping at the end you would zoom in closer so I can see the action of folding works with the screws you have in there...like did you have to loosen one side so get it to collapse or what? Thank you.

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

I'm sure you could make a bubble level work. They key would be to make sure you establish true level on the setup to start with. As far as the folding, we just loosen the top "hinge" screw and remove the screw on one side of the cross member. You'll figure out real quick which side to unhook so that it doesn't bind when collapsing. Might be able to use either side.

[@andrewwyatt2542]

Neat basic tool for getting levels spot on.my daughter who is 9 said the music is creepy

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

Lol! I nailed it then!

[@patrickkane7207]

drive two sticks and use a water level, measure down or up

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

🍻

[@dustinabc]

Isn't the point where the string hits on the cross bar just exactly half way between the two holes/bolts holding it in place? Seems it might be easier to just measure first, and then verify with the 180⁰ rotation thing after.

[@dustinabc]

As soon as I posted my comment i realized you hadn't used a measuring tape to build it, so your method made more sense again, BUT THEN I thought once again it might be easier to find the length of string between the two holes, then fold the string in half and that would me the center point. More than one way to skin a cat i guess. 😁

[@merlinlucas8280]

Just attach a level to your cross-beam and the wind will be no problem. No weighted string.

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

That's another option that comes with it's own challenges.

[@marceltheisen2921]

@@HeirloomPermaculture Great video, I'm just curious - what's the potential problem/challenge of using a bubble level vs string? Thanks-

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

@@marceltheisen2921 if you can insure that the crossbar is exactly parallel to the feet of the upright and the bubble level itself hasn't been damaged, I can see it being a fairly speedy option to ballpark level. Centering the bubble always seems a little more subjective than exactly aligning a string to a mark though.

[@ecocentrichomestead6783]

I'm not so sure a laser level would be faster. With a laser level you have to use a site stick to find the level point and measure the distance flag to flag. turn the frame around in the down hill direction and you can keep it level till it touches the ground again. Then you already have the distance between flags measured. A line level tided to two sticks and used by two people might be faster.

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

I can assure you that our laser level with audible confirmation on the receiver is WAY faster. We can cover a couple hundred feet of a contour in a few minutes. But you pay $$ for that speed and convenience. We'll likely do a video on that one too. Btw- thanks for stopping in, as always! We're always glad to see you.

[@bretnewman286]

Perhaps dimensions, as you were building it, would be nice so one does not have to guesstimate!

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

If the legs are the same length, and the crossmember is attached at the same height (as discussed), the dimensions are irrelevant and can be scaled to any desired size.

[@sountay]

Is this really necessary? It doesn't seem practical. The point of the frame is so narrow and the ground varies so much I can't imagine measuring based on these two points would make much an impact.

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

It actually works very well to identify the overall slope and contours. Constructing swales and other water control or identification systems is easily accomplished. Your eyes can be very misleading but using a level fixes that. We prefer our laser level for larger projects but this is a very cost effective tool for more limited use.

[@sountay]

@@HeirloomPermaculture So if I wanted to measure out a meter wide swale what I need to do then is the map out the contour and then just dig right on the line?

[@HeirloomPermaculture]

@@sountay in very simple terms, yes. You may need small amounts of fine tuning on your swale depth and berm height after it fills with water. But you have the basic premise nailed down. Give the water a natural place to overflow where you want or it will make one.