Swing - Make a Simple Wooden Swing

How to Make a Wood Swing

 

https://youtu.be/qgC1-CpbZyI

Surprisingly it isn't super easy to make a swing.  Ya, for the most part it is, but what size to you make the seat itself?  What is a good size for kids and adults?

I found that 18" long by 8" wide is a good size for everyone, kids and adults.

Also i doubled up on the plywood to make it extra thick.

The rope was rated at 350lb breaking strength.  I tried burning the ends, but it didn't behave like the yellow plastic rope.

After several coats of polyurethane it was ready to hang.

The holes are 3/4" and 1" from the corners.

All the materials ready to go.

We picked a hardwood tree in our yard with a good branch.

I used some felt on the top of the branch, just in case.  I didn't want the rope rubbing on the bark and break.

Also i used 1 continuous piece of rope.  I didn't cut it at the top.  It was tied, then crossed over to the other side and went down.

For the knots on the bottom there's several options.  I decided to loop it through the holes and tie it on itself.

You can see there are 2 knots per rope.  I had issues with the swing slipping down because the rope was very slippery.

But overall it's worked great.

Transcript from Video:

So earlier this year my son and I

wanted to build a swing in the yard and

we had the same questions most people

have one what size to cut the board what

would you use what rope to get and what

tree to pick so here's the swing we made

and a good size I found is 18 by 8 you

could go a little wider but 18 by 8

seems to work an adult can sit on it a

kid can sit on it everybody is able to

fit on this side so an inch and a half

and cut the holes 3/4 inch falls and I

rounded the edges so the rope won't have

any pinch points and good morning so the

ropes holding up nicely on the rounded

edges now as far as wood to use I had a

ton of scrap wood I could have done two

options one is I could have used a piece

of two by eight or two by ten pieing

and that's a soft wood but it's pretty

thick and I couldn't just use that cut

it to length drilled a couple of halls

been done but what I decided to do was

make it a little bit thicker and I glued

together two pieces of plywood and it

made it about an inch and a half thick

plenty strong

there's no bend at all Ryan you know a

piece of pine would have been fine too I

think even one piece of reasonably good

plywood would have worked too but I

decided to double up and glue it

together another option would have been

if you don't want it thick the whole way

we could just put a strip of wood right

under where the Rope meets and that

would strengthen it at the end but I

decided to just make the whole thing

nice and wide now as far as rope I just

went on Amazon and bought some 3

breaking strength rope it's 716 inch and

it's braided it's worked fine

and you could use wood glue or you could

even use liquid nails construction

adhesive since it's going to be outside

and speaking of being outside you need

to treat this I put five coats of

polyurethane on this

and I could even see that it's getting a

little bit worn on the top but you're

gonna definitely need something to

protect it from the rain and the snow so

five coats of polyurethane or something

else that's gonna really seal it and

keep it protected while it's outside or

else it's gonna work as far as the knots

that you can see I came down from the

tree I looped it under the swing and

then I tied knots here and here you want

nuts that aren't gonna slide down so I

did a couple of hitches where I wrapped

around the rope and then I brought it up

to here and I actually used some tape

and some rope to secure it so it

wouldn't slide down I originally wanted

to do that technique we can braid the

rope inside the the rope so it cinches

on itself but I didn't have the tool and

this really wasn't good enough rope to

do that now as far as how to tied the

knots up at the top of the tree there's

a couple different things you can do and

I actually recorded a video in that back

when I tied it in the spring alright

Here I am up on top of the tree and I

wanted to point out the knots I used

this is the first night I tied and they

did a round turn and two half hitches

and the theory was on it that the Rope

coming down is basically going straight

up and over the Rope wrapping around is

this one here so there's no real pinch

points in this rope I'm not kicking it

or bending it anywhere where it's gonna

be pulling and at a right angle it's

coming straight down this rope wrapped

around twice and then it comes over to

this side where I have it wrapped around

twice again and I just wrapped it

through the line so as it pulls pull

it's tightening on itself and again

there's no pinch points in the rope the

force coming down

I use two carpet padding on the top just

so if it does rub or where hopefully it

doesn't it won't be rubbing on the tree

and rub through the rope but that was

the theory I had on no pinch points on

the knot sometimes some people said do a

bowline or something like that I needed

it to be tight to the tree which a

bowline wouldn't really do it I would

say sag down that works if you have an

eyelet through the tree or something

like that

I want it tight to the branch and these

are both tight to the branch

now as far as what trees to use we have

a lot of trees on our property but not a

lot of good trees for swings we have

pine trees which don't work and some big

cottonwoods and now cottonwoods are soft

wood and ideally you don't want to use a

soft wood because those branches can

just snap and break I would much rather

trust an oak or maple over a cottonwood

so we had to go with this one I think

it's a type of locust the seat that

leaves are nice and small like a honey

locust and it seemed like a really

strong tree and we have a good branch

sticking out at the top and the last

little thing I did was I took a wood

burner and I burned my son's name on the

front of the swing and the year on the

back just I think the personalized a

little bit more hopefully it stays here

for a bunch of years