How To Build a Balance Beam

As Kate's gymnastics prowess has increased, she has begun asking for a balance beam.  Since this was a long weekend, I decided to take this project on along with some help from my lovely assistant (aka my wife).

The first requirement of building a beam is to find a friend with a a LOT of wood clamps.  Thankfully, I have a friend like that.

Next buy a LOT of wood glue, 6 - 10 foot 1x6's and 4 - 10 foot 2x4's.

Cut the 1x6's to a uniform 10' length

Before beginning the lamination project, I did a mockup first.  I used the 2x4's to help transfer the "squeeze" of the clamps more uniformly.

Satisfied, I glued together my first two boards.  I had no idea how quickly the glue sets - yikes!  There is very little time to adjust the boards the way you like!

TIP:  find a friend with a table saw, and cut all 1x6's to a uniform length before laminating them, this will make the whole process a bit easier with a better end product. 

Here is the outcome after four  boards are glued together

 Here are all six

Since I had not sawed the boards for width, I took a hand plane to the beam to create a nice flat surface

Then I hit it with a sander

And voila!

Next we wrapped the beam in some 1/2"   1" foam. 
(This gives the beam a bit more cushion.  You may choose to use a bit less)

Finally, we wrapped it in "marine vinyl"

We trimmed off the excess and admired the finished product!

and turned our gymnast loose!