Stopper Knots for the Seat

Measure a 10 feet length of rope and push each end through the top holes in the seat end. Tie an Ashley’s Stopper Knot in each end of the rope as shown here:

Ashleys Stopper Knots on Seat Bottom

With another 10 foot length of rope, do the same for the opposite end of the seat. Take care to adjust the position of the 2nd stopper knot to ensure the seat is level. Leave a short pigtail in the knots as shown for extra security.

Final Assembly

Install a 2-7/8in by 5/16in stainless steel chain link (also called a quick link) on each of the seat rope loops. This item is available at Home Depot for about $6. This product has a working load of 3,000 lbs – more than strong enough for this project. Do not use aluminum or cheap look alikes as commonly seen on school backpacks – those will break and get you hurt.

Stainless Steel Chain Link

The red arrows point to the chain links in this photo:

Chain Links Installed

Hanging the Seat

Adjust the slack so the swing seat is about 24 inches above the ground, and tie the rope hanging from the tree limb to the chain link with a Buntline Hitch. Here’s a closeup of the chain link and knot:

Buntline Hitch

Before tying off the Buntline knot at the opposite end, place the carpenter’s level on the swing seat and adjust the final knot position so both ends of the seat are even.

The chain link will bite into the hollow core braided rope (red arrow) as shown in the next photo making a flat spot in the rope. This is essential for stability such that the seat doesn’t spill over. Tipping has never had a problem on my swing.

If seat tipping becomes a problem, try looping the rope once around the chain link to increase friction.

Chain Link and Braided Rope

Tips:

• Melt the ends of the rope with a butane lighter to seal the braids so it doesn’t unravel.
• Check the tree limb every season to see that’s it’s healthy, strong and the rope is in good shape.

Have fun!

Bob Jackson

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Rope Tree Swing

Materials:

1. Pressure treated 2in x 8in board, 4 feet in length
2. 5/8in diameter hollow-core braided polypropylene rope, ~100 feet length.
3. 3″ corrosion resistant deck screws, Qty: 10
4. Sanding block
5. Course and fine grit sandpaper
6. 2-7/8in by 5/16in chain link, Qty: 2
7. Gorilla Wood Glue
8. Roll of kite string
9. Oak tree

A Note about Rope

The 5/8 inch braided hollow-core polypropylene rope I used in this project has a safe working load of 294 lbs. The “working load” of a rope is about 1/5 of it’s total tensile (or breaking) strength, about 1400 lbs for this particular rope. In the next photo, the rope appears to be 3/4 inch diameter; under load it thins to 5/8 inch diameter. The only difference between the two ropes here is the color.

5/8in Braided Hollow Polypropylene Rope

It’s important to use a large diameter braided rope for the swing. The use of a smaller diameter and/or twisted rope will be too slippery on the chain link and may cause the seat to tip over.

Twisted Rope - Too Slippery - Not Recommended for Swing

Braided Rope - Recommended for Tree Swing

Nylon rope would be an upgrade over the hollow-core braided polypropylene rope used here because it’s a stronger (and more expensive) material.

Tools:

1. Cordless Drill/Driver
2. Saw
3. Carpenter’s square
4. Pencil
5. Tape measure
6. Carpenter’s level
7. Butane Lighter

The Challenge:

Building the tree swing presented a bit of challenge because my 24 foot extension ladder wasn’t tall enough to reach the high and strong branch on the oak tree. Normally, I’d tie the rope to the tree branch using a Swing Hitch knot, but it requires putting your arms around the branch to tie the knot. Since I couldn’t reach the branch, I had to figure out a way to tie off the lines from the ground. I solved this problem with kite string and a Running Bowline knot.

Construction:

Making the Seat

• The seat is a 36 inch length of 2in by 8in pressure treated lumber.
• The seat reinforcements are a 4in length of 2×8.

1. Mark and saw the 36 inch long bench seat and the two 4 inch reinforcing blocks.
2. Bevel (i.e. round off) front and rear edges of the bench seat with sandpaper. This is so the edges of the board won’t cut into your thighs when sitting.
3. Attach the reinforcing blocks to the bottom ends of seat with Gorilla Glue and the five 3 inch wood screws. Notice the screw pattern is laid out to avoid the drill holes for the rope.
4. Locate and drill the 3/4 in holes for the rope 2 inches from the outside end of the seat and 1-1/2 in from the front and back sides. See the photo below for details of the reinforcing block attachment and holes.

Seat Bottom Reinforcements and Stopper Knots

Tying the Rope to the Tree Limb

As described in The Challenge section, the tree limb was too high for my ladder and climbing the tree was possible. The solution for attaching ropes to the tree limb is a Running Bowline knot, a type of slipknot. A benefit of a slipknot is the rope won’t strangle the tree limb as it grows.

Not any knot will do when personal safety is at stake. The knots I used in this project are:

• Very strong
• Secure
• Won’t significantly weaken the rope

To reach the limb, I tied a small rock to the end of the kite string and threw the rock over the tree limb, letting the string run off the spool. This took a couple of tries to get it where I wanted.

I then tied the kit string to the 5/8 rope and pulled it back up over the limb. (You’ll need a double length of rope to do this!)

Next, I tied a Running Bowline in the rope and pulled it up snug against the tree limb, all from the comfort of standing safely on the ground. Here’s the result:

Running Bowline Knot around Tree Limb

Do the same for both ropes:

Running Bowline Knots

Cut each rope hanging from the tree limb off at ground level – remember it took a double length to get it over the tree limb and set the Running Bowline knot.

This project is continued in Part 2.

Enjoy,

Bob Jackson

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