Here at the Oregon Dept. of Forestry, we still have several lightning stools in use. The one pictured is one I made just to have in my office. I have made a few others as replacements, as we still use them in several of our fire lookout towers. The insulators used on them reflects what was in use in the region. McLaughlin CD 121's and other tolls, Maydwell CD 122's, Brookfield CD 145 CREBs, and even porcelain NN Postals, which were used on a line from Ashland to Fort Klamath, Oregon. The idea behind the stools was to isolate the lookout from the tower while using the crank-telephone during a lightning bust. Although we've had radios in the towers for nearly 40 years now, the lookouts still like the "security" of the ol' lightning stools.