DIY Backyard Games E-Book

Colleen Pastoor

• Herausgeber: Fox Chapel Publishing
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 103

Beschreibung

Invite friends and family over and head outside for a backyard game night! Perfect for barbecues, stay-cations, family reunions, block parties, and more, DIY Backyard Games offers 13 step-by-step easy woodworking and DIY projects to make your own lawn games! Approachable for anyone to accomplish, no matter your experience or skill level, make everything from DIY cornhole, giant Jenga and Dominoes to Yahtzee, Memory, Twister, and more! Use affordable materials and follow simple, step-by-step instructions with coordinating photography to create handmade, board-inspired games that will provide guests with hours of outdoor fun! Author Colleen Pastoor is the popular DIY blogger behind Lemon Thistle, where she offers creative tutorials for a fun home life in a modern style.

Leseprobe

© 2022 by Colleen Pastoor and Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc., 903 Square Street, Mount Joy, PA 17552.

DIY Backyard Games is an original work, first published in 2022 by Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc. The patterns contained herein are copyrighted by the author. Readers may make copies of these patterns for personal use. The patterns themselves, however, are not to be duplicated for resale or distribution under any circumstances. Any such copying is a violation of copyright law.

Project Team

Acquisition editor: Amelia Johanson

Editor: Colleen Dorsey

Designer: Wendy Reynolds

Photography: Colleen Pastoor

Print ISBN: 9781497102750eISBN: 9781637410776

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021950121

To learn more about the other great books from Fox Chapel Publishing, or to find a retailer near you, call toll-free 800-457-9112 or visit us at www.FoxChapelPublishing.com.

We are always looking for talented authors. To submit an idea, please send a brief inquiry to [email protected].

For a printable PDF of the patterns used in this book, please contact Fox Chapel Publishing at [email protected], with 9781497102750 DIY Backyard Games in the subject line.

INTRODUCTION

A number of years ago, I built my first set of DIY yard games with only a circular saw and a pack of sandpaper. I bribed friends with dinner to sit on my doorstep and sand the 54 (!) Jenga® pieces without a power sander in sight. I was so proud of that set of games, which my family pulled out any time we were hosting a barbecue or backyard get-together.

Fast forward to today, and I’ve made so many different yard games that practically every sunny summer weekend could feature a different one. I’ve shared those successful projects (and the flops!) on my blog, Lemon Thistle (LemonThistle.com), for the past nine years, and now I’m excited to share the best with you in this book.

DIY Backyard Games is a step-by-step guide to building 13 yard games that are tons of fun for adults and kids alike. In the first section, I provide a foundation of knowledge for using various tools and materials and introduce you to some of the terminology you’ll need to know; whether you’re brand new to power tools or you’ve made plenty of projects in the past, there’s something to learn. Each easy-to-follow project breaks down the materials, tools, and steps for its creation in detail. Finally, after all the projects, I wrap it up with some suggestions on how to create even more games and some tips for turning those games into a side hustle.

With these yard games in your garage, your next barbecue, wedding, or event will be a blast for all. We’ve found that just having the games available encourages guests to gather, laugh, and take a step away from their seat. They’re also great for spending quality time with just your family.

For me, DIY has been a creative outlet and an opportunity for our family to build the home and life we love. I know this book will bring you joy too—not just in the completed projects, but also in the making. Creating projects by hand can be so empowering, and stretching your creativity to customize these games is so much fun. I can’t wait to see the projects you create! Please keep in touch and share how you’re enjoying these tutorials (tag me in your projects on Instagram @colleenpastoor)!

CONTENTS

The Basics

Raw Materials

All About Tools

Step-by-Step Projects

Giant Dominoes

Tic-Tac-Toe

Yard Speed Scrabble®

Chess and Checkers

Kubb

Giant Jenga®

Memory

Four in a Row

Ring Toss

Mini Putt

Yard Dice

Ladder Ball

Cornhole

You Can Make Anything!

Turning Games into Cash

About the Author

Acknowledgments

THE BASICS

If you’re new to DIY, building, and tools, the options can feel overwhelming. You may be asking yourself: Which saw do I use? What’s the difference between a drill and a driver? Do I really need every one of these tools, or can I hack it with just a few? What about wood? Why is a 2x4 not actually 2 inches by 4 inches? In this section, I’m going to briefly overview the different materials and tools that you will see mentioned in this book, plus a few others so you can make your choice about which tools to invest in for your DIY projects and which materials to select for each project. Let’s dig in!

Raw Materials

WOOD

If you’re new to DIY or building, walking into the lumber section of the hardware store can be overwhelming. There’s every size under the sun and you can pay three times more for the same size in a different type of wood. Let me break it down for you so you can walk in and out confidently.

Softwood, Hardwood, Treated Wood, and MDF

Wood can be separated into two categories: hardwood and softwood.

Hardwood is more durable; if you press into it with a clamp or your fingernail, it won’t dent. It’s great for building cabinetry and beautifully high-end-looking projects. But the price point matches this. Some readily available hardwoods include walnut, oak, hickory, mahogany, maple, and teak.

Softwood is almost everything else. When you press into it with a clamp or your fingernail, you will see a dent. Fir, pine, poplar, cedar, and spruce are the common types you’ll see in stores. If you see boards marked “SPF,” that’s telling you it is spruce, pine, or fir. They’re often used interchangeably in structural projects. SPF woods are an affordable place to start building projects, but they do absorb more moisture, so they need to be protected for use outdoors. Cedar can resist rot, so is often chosen for outdoor projects like fences and decks, but it still needs to be maintained. Again, that beautiful grain and rot resistance come with a slightly higher price tag than SPF lumber, but cedar is still more affordable than most hardwoods. All the projects in this book make use of softwoods.

Treated wood is mostly used for outdoor applications where the wood may be exposed to sources of moisture, as it has been treated with preservatives to last longer and resist rot. These chemical preservatives in pressure-treated wood should be taken into consideration when handling and cutting the wood, as well as when deciding where to install and in what type of application the wood will be used. Pressure-treated lumber used to be noticeably green, but now there are brown options as well. Treated wood comes with an added cost compared to untreated lumber.

Medium density fiberboard (MDF) is not recommended for outdoor use, as it’s not moisture resistant, so it isn’t used in any projects in this book. It’s a composite of wood shavings and resin and is often used for painted furniture, unseen parts of furniture (such as backings), and painted trimwork.

Wood boards come in many different sizes and shapes.

Here you can compare MDF (top) with plywood (bottom). You can see layers and real grain in the plywood, but the MDF is simple wood shavings and resin compressed together.

NOMINAL MEASUREMENTS

One of the first things you will notice when purchasing lumber (also called dimensional lumber) is that a 2x4 stud actually measures 1 ½" thick x3 ½" wide (3.8 x 8.9cm) and a 1x3 measures ¾" thick x 2 ½" wide (1.9 x 6.4cm).

Wait, what?

These are called nominal measurements, and they are used for softwood. Let’s look at a 2x4 as an example. When the lumber was originally cut, it was cut to exactly 2" x 4" (5.1 x 10.2cm), but by the time it dried and was planed, that board was no longer exactly 2" x 4". Lumber practices have modernized and boards are no longer cut to exactly 2" x 4", but they are still planed to the exact measurements of 1 ½" x 3 ½" (3.8 x 8.9cm). When you purchase lumber, you will choose the size as well as the length, such as 6' or 8' (183 or 244cm) long.

Here’s a handy chart with common lumber sizes, including the ones used for projects in this book. (Nominal measurements also exist in metric supplies, typically expressed in millimeters—look for conversions online if you’re purchasing from a metric retailer.)

One more note: hardwood is often measured by board feet, which is different again. We aren’t working with hardwood in this book, so we’ll be skipping over that, but if you’re looking at a piece of hardwood measured in board feet, pull out that tape measure to make sure you get the right pieces.

Nominal Size

Actual Measurement

1x2

¾" x 1 ½"

1x3

¾" x 2 ½"

1x4

¾" x 3 ½"

1x5

¾" x 4 ½"

1x6

¾" x 5 ½"

2x2

1 ½" x 1 ½"

2x3

1 ½" x 2 ½"

2x4

1 ½" x 3 ½"

2x6

1 ½" x 5 ½"

2x8

1 ½" x 7 ¼"

4x4

3 ½" x 3 ½"

Boards, Plywood, and Dowels

You can buy wood in many different shapes, sizes, and varieties, but the three I’ll be talking about in this book are boards, plywood, and dowels.

Boards are your standard lumber, including everything from a 1x3 (pronounced “one by three”) to a 2x10 and beyond. This is probably what you think of when you picture the lumber section of your hardware store. But in that lumber section, there are many different pieces to choose from! Generally speaking, structural lumber is for building, but it can be used for smaller DIY projects like the ones in this book. Any board that is 2" (5cm) thick will be structural lumber. Appearance boards are 1" (2.5cm) thick and selected for how they look instead of for strength; if you’re staining your project, these are great boards to consider. Anything smaller than 1" (2.5cm) thick is likely molding; there is no molding in any of the projects in this book.

Plywood is a large sheet of wood. Plywood is made from layers of thin sheets and pieces of wood, combined into one sheet and cured under heat and pressure to give them strength. It’s often used for subfloors, shelves, or as we are using it—for DIY projects!

Plywood is available with different grades of finishes, from rough OSB (oriented strand board) to sanded plywood that has a beautiful, smooth surface. The different plywoods are graded A to D, with A representing the smoothest finish (and the highest price tag). Each side is graded separately, so if you only need one side to be butter-smooth, you can save some money. Plywoods are also available with hardwood or softwood veneers to match a specific wood grain and color you’re building with. We will frequently use plywood—including sanded plywood—for the projects in this book.

Plywood is usually sold in 4' x 8' (122 x 244cm) sheets, and you can also buy part sheets which measure either 2' x 4' (61 x 122cm) or 4' x 4' (122 x 122cm). These are real measurements. However, plywood thickness is nominal (as discussed in the Nominal Measurements box here). A common plywood thickness is ½" (1.3cm) or ¾" (1.9cm), but these actually measure 15/32" (1.2cm) thick and 23/32" (1.8cm) thick, respectively. In the supplies lists in this book, the nominal measurement is given, which will match the tags you see at your local lumberyard.

Dowels are round pieces of wood typically found in the molding section of hardware stores. They are measured by the diameter of the wood and are often made of a softwood like poplar. Most hardware stores sell them in 4' (122cm) lengths, but if you shop around, you should be able to find longer lengths. You don’t need pieces longer than 4' (122cm) for the projects in this book.

Plywood is made of several layers of wood adhered together.

Dowels are round cylinders of wood that are sized by diameter.

FINISHES

One of the fun things about building your own yard games is that you can decide how to customize them to suit your style. Brightly colored game pieces? Go for it! Stains with black and white paint? You’re my style of DIYer! All stain and don’t paint a thing? Why not!

Here’s what you should know when selecting your finish for a project. I always explain how I chose to finish a project, but you may want to mix and match different finishes and projects.

Sealing Your Project

Whether you choose to stain your wood or leave it natural, it’s a good idea to seal any wood project, especially if you’re using it outdoors. Clear sealer (polycrylic) comes in many kinds—there are indoor and outdoor varieties, crystal clear or amber, water-based or oil-based, and spray-on, brush-on, or wipe-on types. Then there are other types of sealers that are not polycrylic at all, like oils or waxes.