Illustration: Carl Wiens
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This swing is made from a single hardwood board and comes together quickly. Two pieces cut from a 18 board form one broad, 14½-inch-wide seat. A third piece, glued and screwed across the seam of the seat, supports it from underneath.
The whole assembly hangs from one rope tied around a tear-shaped metal holder called a thimble. The thimble keeps the rope from fraying as it swings on a carabiner, or spring clip, hooked through an eyebolt, which is threaded through a strong tree limb.
It’s important that the limb the eyebolt goes through is at least 8 inches thick and very healthy so that there is no chance it will break under the weight of a child swinging. It also has to be big enough to hold the bolt several feet from the tree trunk, to keep the seat swinging freely.
The whole assembly hangs from one rope tied around a tear-shaped metal holder called a thimble. The thimble keeps the rope from fraying as it swings on a carabiner, or spring clip, hooked through an eyebolt, which is threaded through a strong tree limb.
It’s important that the limb the eyebolt goes through is at least 8 inches thick and very healthy so that there is no chance it will break under the weight of a child swinging. It also has to be big enough to hold the bolt several feet from the tree trunk, to keep the seat swinging freely.
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