hi it's Kip k4 Make Magazine back with
another weekend project a couple of
years ago I discovered this fun game
called cornhole and the reason it's
called that is because these bags are
filled with corn and the object is to
get it in the hole it's about 30 feet
away you get one point for a bag landing
on the board and three points for a bag
going in the hole well this is quickly
becoming popular among college campuses
and tailgate parties so I thought it
would make a fun project for this summer
so I'm going to show you how to make
your very own cornhole boards and bags
on today's weekend project
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now there are actual regulation-size
cornhole boards if you're gonna play in
a tournament or a league which there are
quite a few now then you'll want to
build them according to those specs and
that's 2 foot by 4 foot in size made out
of plywood some are made out of plastic
the commercial ones but it's much easier
to make em out of plywood and that's
what the majority of them are made out
of and then two-by-fours for the base of
the board and then there's also
regulation size and materials for the
cornhole bags now there's a link along
with this video to the American cornhole
Association where you can get all of the
dimensions for not only the boards and
bags but also for the playing field so
let's get started and make our own
cornhole boards and bags the corner hold
boards are made out of half-inch thick
plywood now I opted to get a pre-cut
piece that's called handy panel it's 2
by 4 pre sanded already cut a lot easier
a little bit more expensive than buying
an entire four by eight sheet of plywood
but I don't have a table saw and I was
afraid I wasn't gonna be able to make
right on exact 2x4 cuts for this lane so
it was easy to pick up these 2x4 handy
panels pre-cut ready to go so all we
have to do now is start with base and
those are made out of two by fours so
I'm gonna look at the best side of this
because I want the best side up that's
gonna be the best side there so now it's
time to go get two by fours the small
dimension of a 2x4 the two is not really
two inches it's closer to one and a half
inches so our length of our board is 48
inches we're gonna have two smaller
pieces on both ends of our long support
so that equals a total of three inches
one and a half times to three inches
minus 48 is 45 inches so that's how long
we need to cut two of our two by fours
now for the end pieces we need two that
are exactly 24 inches in length so we
will measure mark and cut those to do a
good job it's always nice to sand
all of the edges of your pieces for your
frame just because it makes them nicer
fit and it'll look better when you're
done it's not necessary to use screws
just some good 3-inch nails I find out
works the best and you could put in as
many as you want by putting the first
one in and then I always want to put one
in all the way at the other end of my
board and then I can add more in the
middle okay now it's time to add our
long length of our base so we're gonna
put that in but it right up against that
one edge piece and do the same thing put
some nails in hold it in place our final
piece is the last end piece and again
I'm not gonna put this printed side out
I'm gonna make sure that printed side is
in we'll get that in place and it
matches up real close and we'll nail
that into for added stability I drilled
two pilot holes on the ends of the two
by fours to secure the long two by fours
and I did that in all four corners and
that'll give us a nice secure fit
okay our cornhole board base is complete
now it's time for the hole now the hole
needs to be nine inches from the end and
twelve inches from each side obviously
centered in the middle of the board nine
inches from one end and it needs to be a
six inch in diameter hole well I found a
bowl that was exactly six inches in
diameter
perfect circumference to draw our hole
and I'm going to drill a decent-sized
pilot hole for the blade on my jigsaw
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since the legs are gonna be resting
against the back of the board when it's
set up I'm going to set the leg up here
and then I know I need to make a cut and
since I know I need to be 12 inches high
I've calculated the angle to be a 60
degree cut on both of these legs so that
the legs are at an angle and then our
core whole board top is exactly 12
inches and we'll get to that final
dimension in a second well I've made the
angle cut and then to be honest with you
a lot of trial and error testing by
holding this up to the back of the
cornhole board and looking at the angle
I determined I would make a small
circular cut at the very top of this leg
and what that will allow me to do is it
allowed me to fold the leg up inside the
cornhole boards I'm gonna put a bolt
through there and I'll be able to fold
these up and it'll make it easier for
storage and for carrying around both
legs are cut and now to test it out I've
got my board here and I got my one leg
and I'm going to just make sure that
this angle is flat on the table and then
I'm gonna set it right there just like
that take a measurement and I'm about 11
and 3/4 so I still need another quarter
inch of height and how will I do that
well by moving the leg forward just a
little bit taking another measurement
and a bit more about right there and
I've got my 12 inches so what I'll do is
I'll look under here I'll make a mark
with a pencil and I'll also make a mark
with a pencil through the hole in my leg
and I'll have the location of this the
bolt that will go through and hold the
lake to the chordal board and I'll be
using some 5/16 by three and a half inch
bolts with a locking washer and a wing
nut to secure both legs okay I bolted
both legs in place using the three and a
half inch bolt
lock washer and the wingnut and our
cornhole board is measured at 12 inches
and also the legs now fold up nice for
storage or for carrying to wherever
you're gonna play cornhole well you need
to make a whole nother one of these
though because you need to to play
cornhole so you'll have to make a whole
nother board just like I showed you and
the last step is the cornhole bags duct
cloth is used for the cornhole bags
because it's a heavy duty cloth that can
withstand the pounding that the bags
will take as they hit the boards from 30
feet away and they're filled with whole
corn that you can get at pretty much any
feed store well I've commissioned my
niece Kim here to do the sewing for me
to sew up these cornhole bags me and
sewing machines probably don't get along
since I can't remember the last time
I've sewed and I know you are a expert
at sewing regulation cornhole bags are
6x6 square so using this big sheet of
duct cloth Kim's measuring off a piece
that's 7 by 13 and then that'll be sewn
up with the corn inside the cloth is
folded in half and then double seams
will be sewn on two of the ends leaving
the one open end to fill with corn the
weight of regulation cornhole bags is
between 14 and 16 ounces so we're gonna
make these right at 16 ounces and that
leaves room for deterioration of the
corn over time and then a little bit of
loss of weight so there's one of eight
cornhole bags now you need to sew up
seven more of these because you need
eight to play cornhole well your
cornhole boards and bags are done the
last step is to personalize your
cornhole boards and that means painting
them any design or color that you want
and you'll want to give this a nice
sanding and three or four coats of good
paint and a couple of coats of clear and
then you're ready to play so that's how
to make the fun lawn game cornhole we'll
see you next time with another weekend
project
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