How to build a porch swing

zieak ♦ August 11, 2008 ♦ 1 Comment

Last week while we were in Juneau there was a 60% off sale at Fred Meyer for outdoor/garden stuff.  I guess summer is over.  We saw a porch swing that we really liked except it had a canopy attached to the frame.  Regardless, i loaded the box up on a cart – it was $79 instead of $200.  But i changed my mind at the last minute and put it back.

Instead i bought three outdoor cushions and told Cena the oft uttered phrase “i can make that.”  The cushions were also 60% off so i only ended up paying $30 for all three of them.  I didn’t like the stand – it would occupy too much of the porch.  I also thought that the whole setup was rather flimsy.

So on Tuesday afternoon i began work on a porch swing and by Friday at 7 PM people could enjoy it.  Naturally i didn’t spend all that time working on it bu there were a few hours put in.

I started by looking online for some plans.  There is a great collection of free instructions from around the web on this site.  However, none of them used the materials that i had or quite matched how i wanted the swing to look.  So i set out on my own.

First i determined the width that the frame would need to be.  I lined up my cushions and added a few inches to each side for an armrest.  Then i made sure that the swing would fit in the space i wanted to use it — between the posts on our front porch.  With just a few inches to spare i pressed on.

Using the cushions i also measured the height of the back and length of the seat.  With Cena’s help we determined that the angle of the back should be at 105 degrees from the seat.  With the seat tilted at a 5 degree angle from horizontal we thought that would be comfy.

I used wood from the railings that i removed last year.  I had to plane a few of the larger boards but had a good stack of the smaller uprights already done.  That gave me plenty of 2×2 cedar pieces and a number of 2×4 cedar boards.

First i ripped one of the 2×4 boards with my table saw at a 15 degree angle.

Then i cut that board and two others to the length that the cushions needed plus space for arm rests and a few inches to cut off later — giving me some contingency room.

I cut the ends of the 2×2 boards at 15 degree angles just so that they would match the angle of the back and also so they would not have a sharp edge where the backs of people’s knees are.  I made a jig so i only had to cut one end and then slide the board to hit the jig and then cut again.  Then each piece was cut to the right length.  I cut both ends off of the 2×2 boards to remove the parts that had screw holes.  Then i repeated the process for the slightly longer back slats.

Then i drilled holes for the screws and countersunk for the heads.  I had a bunch of beefy stainless steel screws from a basket sale the hardware store had two years ago.  Red cedar and stainless steel porch swing? I’m doing this project right!

Here you can see some of the 2×2 pieces cut and drilled.

Then i began attaching the seat and back pieces to the frame pieces.  I made sure the whole setup was square and then started putting them in.

After the seat and back pieces were all attached i cut two 2×4 boards that i then attached to the two seat supports.  I put the screws in off center for them because of the cable that would run through them.  I then cut two more boards to attach from the front seat rail to the back rail.  I made angle cuts on them and only attached the board at the back.  This prevents the weight from closing the bench — i knew i needed support other than the screws to keep the back from either being pushed off (if the cable was not attached to it) or from folding in (with the cable run through the back rail).

I tied the cushions in place and then drilled hols for stainless steel cable.  I used two cable clamps – one to close the cable loop (under the swing) and the other to make a small loop at the top so that the swing doesn’t slide in the eyebolts.  (I’m sorry – i should take some good pictures of this.)

Now i would like to add cup holders to each of the sides (and a more complete arm rest) and then i can call the project done.

Total cost for the project was only the cost of the cushions.  I had all the hardware and wood kicking around.  Yesterday we looked at the swing and our deck chairs and commented about how inviting the porch is with the hanging plants and furniture.