Near our home, these pieces of furniture and remnants were placed by the road… I didn’t think much of any of it, although I did kinda like the pieces of lumber that had once made a bed frame….

The second or third time I passed by (at a few days interval), it dawned on me that I could use those nice long pieces of wood to make a balance beam for my daughter (there was one I’d seen in a store which I loved but it certainly wasn’t free).

So home I went, along with several pieces of wood, and even screws (I brought my electric drill to remove them).

Back home, from one of the long pieces, I cut several smaller pieces (with my trusty hand saw and miter box), all equal lengths, which I planned to use as the “feet”, stabilizing the beam. Next, at several locations along the length of the wood, I made two holes side by side, about half an inch from the edge of the plank. These would allow me to screw two pieces of wood on top of each other, making the wood “thicker”.

As you can see below, I used clamps to keep the wood correctly positioned while making holes and attaching screws.

here you can see “thickness”

Before attaching these pieces together however, i attached two planks, side by side, into the feet, and then a second board on top of the first one. Below you can see the finished beam. Next year, my plan is to use only one board wide, making it “thicker” yet- higher and narrower, making it extra challenging for my daughter and her friends to find their balance 🙂