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I built a frame so I could use my hammock in the back yard. I considered making it out of the galvanized pipe that I've seen others use but that was going to cost over CDN$250 and during the lock down it was going to be difficult to get the materials. So I built a frame out of some 2x4s and decking board (5/4x6) that I already had. The theory was that the mortice and tenon joints between the top rail and the uprights would stop or resist the frame from racking and becoming a parallelogram, but it didn't work out that well. My tenons aren't a consistent thickness or width (hard to do with hand tools and tenons that are 5" long), and my mortices in the top rail are also a bit too large (I drilled the mortices with a hand held drill instead of my drill press plus it's really difficult to chisel the soft wood square). In addition, my top rail is a decking board (1" thick) instead of a 2x4 (1 1/2" thick) which I think would resist racking much more. Forgot to mention that I chiseled holes in my tenons for wedges so I could tighten the top rail down on to the uprights, and I used a mortice and tenon to connect the bottom of the uprights to the base. Sorry, I don't have a picture of that (very important) part but if you zoom in on the 1st picture you may be able to make out the wedge. Also, since I was planning on using a 2x4 for the top rail, I positioned the holes for the wedges 1 1/2" from the shoulders of the tenon. So, when using the thinner 1" deck board I had to insert a 1/2" thick piece so the wedge would have something to push against. Again, let me know if a picture is required.
I suspect that even if I created a new top rail using a 2x4 and ensured that the mortices were a tight fit on the tenons, the weather might swell the wood and make it almost impossible to disassemble the mortice and tenon joints. So I'm thinking I'll abandon this design and try to fashion something to the one tree I have in my back yard.
If anyone has any suggestions I'd appreciate hearing them. I'm a little skeptical of the frames I've seen that use tripods made out of 1x2. Or maybe they are 2x2 but I'm still skeptical that they would bend under my weight, even though I only weigh 165 lbs.
Thanks
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