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Porch Swing

4K views 16 replies 14 participants last post by  Marco 
#1 ·
One of the things I miss from growing up in the deep south was the porch swing you often found on the older houses. The covered porch was a necessity way back because the houses had very little to no insulation and in the summer the temperature inside would become unbearable in the middle of the day. So everyone would head outside and sit on the porch swing or a rocking chair. The only thing I didn't like about the swings was the constant squeaking of the chain on the hooks in the ceiling so I hung mine on some pillow block style bearings instead. Totally silent. The little woman approves as the photo shows.
 

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#6 ·
Sweet swing, Chuck.
 
#10 ·
One photo is the pillow block bearings. When I built the porch I had this in mind so I tripled the rough 2 x 6s that are the ceiling joists. There are a 6" x 1/2" lag bolt on either end of the pillow blocks and they luckily landed very close to center of each outside joist. The original idea was to run a pipe through them and attach the chains to the pipe but 3/4" pipe was too large for the 1" holes in the bearings and 1/2" will require bushings as it is too small. Yes I've gotten the expected barbs about whether it's strong enough and will they hold my weight. I may switch it to pipe in the future. Probably the distant future as I have a habit of not fixing things that are working the way they are.

Another picture shows how I mounted the chains to the seat. I cut pieces off a small steel pipe with a tubing cutter and used them to stand the chain off from the frame so the chain wouldn't wear to the finish or wood as it swings. The front bottom mounts are on the 5" lag bolts that I used to attach the front rail to the sides.

Third picture shows how I hung it. I wanted to be able to raise and lower it easily as there is over a foot difference in height between me and my wife. I still have a little work to do adjusting the chains to get the seat to back angle right. It's a hair too low in the front right now and feels like you'll fall off if you start swing too hard. Too far back and they are hard to get out of.

I contoured the seat and back slightly by a very easy method of just adding tapered shims under the boards rather than shaping the sides. This was much simpler and saved a lot of time and effort. It is after all just a porch swing and not fine woodworking. Heavy sanding at the joints rounded the edges for a smooth transition from one slat to the next. The front needs a pretty good slope on it to be comfortable to the back of the knees so I cut the sides on a slope there.

I'm sure there are some cushions in store for the future but that's up to my wife and mother in law as both are very accomplished seamstresses.
 

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#9 ·
I spent a lot of my time in the summers growing up swinging on porch swings. Both sets of grandparents had porch swings and they were well used.
 
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#13 ·
Nice. I've swung in one or two, but always considered the squeak part of the background noise, like crickets. Prefer rockers tho, you can shift them, to catch the breeze better.
 
#14 ·
That might be a future project. Nothing as sophisticated as Two Skies Maloof inspired chair though.
 
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