Cornhole DIY: Building the boards (pt. 1)
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For this two three part series, I will show you how we made regulation cornhole boards & custom bean bags for our reception (and beyond!).
This part focuses on the building of the cornhole boards.
Part two focuses on the designing and painting.
Part three focuses on the bags.
*also, after writing this post, I found I had taken ZERO photos of us building the cornhole boards. A lesson I will definitely learn from! However, I put a lot of time into writing this, so it is staying up, even though I have no pretty pictures for it. My apologies in advance!*
Pictured: Me writing this post
These directions were found HERE. I highly suggest you go to that site if you decide to make these as they are way more detailed than mine will be here! And they have step by step reference photos. It is the site I used to build our boards.
As with any building project, we made a trip to Lowe’s to get all the raw materials needed:
- 1/2″ thick plywood – (1) 4’x4′ or (2) 2’x4′
- (4) 8′ long 2×4’s
- (4) 4 1/2″ long, 3/8″ diameter carriage bolts
- (4) 3/8″ flat washers
- (4) 3/8″ wing nuts
- A box of 2 1/2″ wood screws
We were lucky and found a ‘scrap’ piece of plywood that was already cut into 4’x4′, so we got them to go ahead and give a cut right down the middle to make two 2’x4′ pieces. It only cost us $2 for the plywood!
Tools needed:
- Power Saw
- Mitre Saw
- Power Drill
- Sandpaper
- Paint, in color(s) you want (we used normal wall paint)
- Clear lacquer
- Painters Tape (if applicable to your design)
For the frame, we cut down the 8′ 2×4’s into four pieces that were 4′ long (sides), four pieces that were 21″ long (top&bottom), & four pieces at 16″ long (legs).
Then on the plywood pieces, we cut the hole & sanded smooth. The circle should be 6″ in diameter, and from the mid-point of the circle, 9″ from top, 12″ from sides. You can use a compass for the circle if you have one. We didn’t, so we tied a piece of string to a pencil. We held the string to the middle of where the circle was and traced the pencil around.
Then, we screwed the frames together and screwed the plywood tops onto them.
And now, onto the legs – the most fun part! For this section, I’ll be honest, I let my husband do his thing with them. So, the following is the gist of what to do.
With the cornhole board facing down, place the piece of pre-cut wood for the leg in the corner, up against the long side of the board. You will want about 2 inches between the top of the board and your leg (you can use a piece of scrap wood as a spacer).
Mark where your carriage bolt will go – midpoint of frame and leg. Go ahead and drill a hole (through the frame & leg!) where this mark is, so your carriage bolt will go in. You will also need to cut the end of the leg that is being bolted to the frame into a semi-circle so it will be able to pivot. Don’t forget to sand!
Now, put the carriage bolt into the pre-drilled hole of the frame, slide the leg on, washer, & wing nut.
Yay!
But you’re not quite done. Now, the leg has to be cut to the correct angle & height. You want the top of the cornhole board to be 12 inches from the ground, so with the board on a table, stack boxes or books or whatever you have on hand under the board until it reaches that height.
Once that is done, make sure the leg is extended all the way and draw a line on the leg where the table top hits it. This is where you will cut! Do these steps for all legs.
Below is the finished product with our dog Koko in the background.
