A friend of mine was talking about how he felt bad always borrowing his neighbor’s cornhole boards every time he hosted an outdoor event. I don’t recall if he asked me to make a set for him or if I offered, but either way, I ended up making a set of cornhole boards. I’d never made any before, but it seemed pretty straightforward. My biggest issue was deciding what sort of design to put on the face.

After doing some research on official sizes and measurements, I opted for some inexpensive half-inch plywood from Home Depot. Using a circle-cutting jig for my router, I cut a six-inch hole in each board at the appropriate (official) location. I routed a roundover all around the edges of the circle and the perimeter of each board. I had to fill some of the voids in the plywood with Dap Plastic Wood. Did I mention inexpensive plywood? Perhaps “cheap” would a better term adjective… but I managed to get the edges all smoothed out and it ended up just fine.

I built the underlying frame out of pine 1×3 boards using pocket screws and glue, making sure everything was square. To attach the top, I used glued and clamped it onto the frame. I then cut a lot of 90-degree corner blocks and glued those into place as well, just for some extra support… so I could be sure it could take a beating. The legs were created with pine 2×2 boards and a 1×3 stretcher. Those pieces were simply glued together.

For the design, I opted to stain one board blue and one red, then paint a tapered yellow strip up the middle. I’m trash at spray painting, and ended up having to sand a lot of it back off on one board, then re-do it with a lighter touch, but it turned out fine. I applied five coats of Minwax Polycrylic on the top surface of the boards and finished the sides with two coats of spray shellac and two coats of spray Polycrylic. The insides got a couple coats of black spray paint.

I order to make the boards a “set,” I attached breakaway hinges and spring latches. That way, it closes up nicely for portability and beanbag storage, but it’s super easy to take apart and get set up. I also added a handle of black nylon rope to complete it.

Final pictures below. My friend was happy with it and hopefully I’ll be able to join him and some other friends this summer to test it out!