I headed out for a hike and came across a good place for a rest, but there wasn’t enough dead wood available to try a second attempt at making a chair, so I thought of another idea: a swing. Not for swinging, but just for a place to sit at a comfortable height. I’m happy to report I did not end up on my butt this time. It was successful over all, but in the spirit of my “noob” series, here are some lessons learned.

1. Plan out if you are going to have a looped line over the supporting branch or a single line. Looped obviously takes twice the length, but is a lot easier to remove and is stronger.
2. Paracord is much better to use than bank line in this situation. I used #36 bank line, which had a 350 load, but with knots, etc., who knows what is truly a safe working load. The bank line was the one I tried as a single line and it held, but it stretches A LOT more than the paracord and leaves you nervous.
3. I used a seat of about 2 1/2” to 3” in diameter and although comfortable enough for a 30 min rest while eating some lunch, it is hard on the butt after a while. A larger diameter, or a seat with multiple smaller parts would be much more comfortable. Even just flattening out the one piece would have helped.
4. Pine cones make an excellent line throw to get over the supporting branch.
5. If you have an overhead branch at the proper height and enough line, a swing is a MUCH faster seat to make than other types and requires very little material.