Free Plan: 1912 Mission Porch Swing

Three to four days of honest joinery — and a ceiling that has to be right.

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  • Full cut list and slat layout
  • Frame dimensions and joinery detail
  • Joist mounting, done properly
Mission style slatted porch swing with a linen cushion, hanging from four chains on a covered porch

The swing itself is a bench that does not touch the ground. Two arms, a slatted seat, a slatted back, and a frame that ties it together. The joinery is half laps and slat mortises — honest work, but there is a lot of it, and every lap has to sit flat.

What surprises people is what happens the first time somebody sits down. A swing does not carry a static load. It carries weight that arrives and leaves, over and over, pulling overhead — and because the swing travels through an arc, that pull comes in at an angle that keeps changing.

That is why this plan covers the hanging as carefully as the joinery. Cut list, frame dimensions, slat spacing, and the four suspension points that carry the load.

Project at a Glance

Difficulty
Intermediate to advanced (bench joinery plus overhead mounting)
Main materials
Weather-resistant stock such as cedar, cypress or white oak for frame, seat and back slats; four lengths of chain; four heavy eyebolts with washers and nuts; exterior glue and finish
Build time
Three to four shop days, plus finish and hanging
Tools needed
Saw, drill and driver, chisels, clamps, square, stud finder or probe for locating the joist, sandpaper and finish supplies
Safety
Overhead load — mount into structural framing only, never into ceiling boards
Source
Popular Mechanics Handbooks, 1912 (public domain)

Measure this before you cut anything:

Hang height and back clearance decide whether the swing gets used. Seventeen to nineteen inches from the deck to the top of the seat puts an average adult's feet flat on the floor — higher and it dangles, lower and it is hard to get out of. Behind the seat you want roughly three feet of clear space at the back of the arc, measured from the seat back to the railing or wall. Both figures depend on where your joist actually is, and the joist does not move. So find the joist first, work out where the seat will hang from it, and check both numbers on paper before a single board is cut. A swing that clips the railing is a swing nobody sits in twice.

The swing is three to four days of joinery and one careful hour overhead.

What it needs is a covered structure to hang from — and that is where this project sends people looking for the next one.

What one of the plans looks like

One plan, front to back

Every plan in the library comes with the same three things: a cut list you can total before the lumber run, measurements on every part so nothing gets scaled off a photo, and step-by-step instructions from rough stock to finish. That is the layer this swing plan gave you, sixteen thousand more times.

The library covers furniture, shop jigs, outdoor builds and small projects, beginner to advanced. It works with a few hand tools or a full shop, and you keep it for good.

See what's inside Ted's library →

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Also worth a look: the technique layer

Woodworking Secrets is a printed book on layout, cutting, joinery and finishing, the part a plan leaves out. The publisher sends it at no charge and you cover the shipping. It ships to US addresses. On the order page there is a box for a trial membership that is already ticked — untick it if you only want the book.

See the book →