Porch Swing: Revisited

 

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I started building a porch swing and then got interrupted with life, the high heats of summer, life and now we are going through a classic fall much like we had last year with mild temperatures in the afternoon. So with some free time, I dusted off the porch swing project and got to building the back. 

The plans called for an arched  back and an overly complicated process for the joinery that would create lots of future problems with water migration so I just set them aside and other than the general dimensions, winged it. Instead of cutting mortises and tenons on everything, I just cut mortises on everything and glued in tenons. It doesn't seem like much difference typing that sentence but in reality, it took probably a week long project and condensed it down to one afternoon. 

After the glue dried, I scraped and sanded everything which took quite awhile and clamped it in place just to check out proportions, since I'm winging that aspect too by using cheaper (and thicker) cedar instead of expensive (thinner) oak and then having to paint it later. I am satisfied with the proportions and I like the look of the straight back that my wife specified but I think it needs rounded corners so I'm going to halt for the day until I get some feedback from her.

Also, using cheaper materials comes with defects and these boards are no exception. Though I tried to be selective on what defects were acceptable, I still have a few to repair but need to get some thin superglue first. With spray activator to cure it within seconds, it is my go to for repairing a lot of defects where structurability isn't an issue.

Below is my my stopping point sitting on my mobile workbench I build specifically for starting this projects and many planned projects to come. It is still lacking the cabinets underneath but that is next on my list after completing this project.

Note all of this happened a couple months back BEFORE I tore my rotator cuff. I'm not sure if I when I will get back to this project but am hoping by spring.