Hanging a Child's Swing

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Uses: As usual, Ashley covers the options for supporting seats and hanging swings in detail (ABOK # 3828 - 33, p 590). The techniques described here are based on his ideas with some modifications.

The Seat: The wood used for the seat may be exposed to sun, rain, wind, and frost. It is likely to deteriorate long before good rope. Also, your swing will be used unsupervised - despite the rules that you make! In this design the ropes may be untied so that the seat may be taken off; and for safety the rope passes under the seat in case the seat breaks.

The Rope: A swing made with appropriate rope may still be hanging in place decades after being installed (ours lasted at least three decades). However, rope sold in the hardware store often has little or no protection from UV light and may fail much sooner. If possible buy marine quality, UV protected rope. It will outlast your children and may outlast theirs too! Rope is absurdly strong for this application. Nevertheless, buy thick rope for the pleasure and comfort of holding it. 1/2" - 5/8" (12 - 15 mm) is suggested.

Attaching the Main Ropes Above: A high porch may allow a swing to be suspended from eyes secured to beams in the ceiling above. If so, a Bowline tied into each ring will serve well. Ideally find a tree. The perfect tree would have a strong, precisely horizontal branch reaching far enough away from the trunk to minimze the risk of collisions. Such trees are few! If you are lucky enough to find a suitable tree you may have to resort to throwing a weighted string over the branch (which is what we did at the family home in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, England). Then use the string to pull the main rope over.

Knotting the Main Rope: The practical knot here is a Bowline with the other end then threaded through the loop - the Bowline on a Bight. Pulling then results in the bowline sliding up until the rope snugly embraces the branch. Sadly this results in an excess length of rope which has to be discarded. This wastage can be reduced by pulling the two main ropes over in sequence. If the branch is 20 feet above the ground, use about 60 feet. When the first rope is in place, cut off about 40 feet and repeat the process cutting off about 20 feet. In practice make allowance for the circumference of the branch and the amount of rope used tying the bowline on a bight. When cutting the rope there should probably be a couple of feet lying on the ground to allow for the final threading and knotting.

Rope Under the Seat: The two ropes are threaded down through holes diagonally opposite each other, along under the edge, and back up at the opposite end. In practice one rope is threaded and then secured temporarily with a figure eight knot. This allows the other rope to be threaded and tied.

Joining Each End to the Other Rope: Each tail is attached to the opposite rope with three half hitches. As shown in the animation, these knots are tied fairly close to the seat to make a symmetrical triangle below the main rope. This design ensures there is little tendency of the seat to slip or tilt.

Options: If you have plenty of rope each side, you can tie a Rolling Hitch each side well above the seat. The height of the seat may then be adjusted easily by sliding them, which is more convenient than untying and tying the three half hitches. The penalty is that the seat may tilt more easily.