Sharing all of our tips & tricks for how to make the best DIY cornhole boards out of 2 pallets on a budget with fold in legs for storage & 7 easy step by step instructions with pictures!
DIY Cornhole Boards made from Pallets
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Who’s up for a game of Cornhole???
Our family is…ALL THE TIME!
Making DIY cornhole boards out of pallet wood is an awesome idea because the cornhole boards are safe to stay outside if you forget to bring them in, add a ton of character to your DIY cornhole project, & they are FREE!
What could be better than that?!!!
Size of our Awesome Pallet DIY Cornhole Boards
Because we wanted to keep this outdoor pallet project on a budget, we restricted ourselves size wise to the length of the pallet wood we had.
Therefore the DIY cornhole boards we made are not “regulation.”
Our Pallet DIY Cornhole Boards are 24″ wide by 38″ long.
If you wanted to make your DIY cornhole boxes regulation, they would need to be 2 feet by 4 feet or tailgate size is 2 feet by 3 feet.
And the high end of the boards need to be 12″ off the ground.
The DIY cornhole boards made from pallet wood were completely free to make except for the cost of the four bolts and washers.
Rather than make the bean bags for the DIY cornhole game I decided to buy heavy duty bean bags from Amazon.
Supplies & Tools Needed to Make DIY Cornhole Boards
- 2 Pallets
- Circular Saw
- Hammer
- Crowbar
- Finish Nailer & Finish Nails
- Tape Measure
- Pencil & Cereal bowl to Trace with
- Jig Saw
- Wood Glue
- Drill & Exterior Screws
- Orbital Sander
- 4 Hex Bolts
- 4 Wing Nut Washers
- Scrap Paint
- Cornhole Bags (bought on Amazon)
Seven Step by Step Instructions for How to Make 2 DIY Cornhole Boards
Step ONE – Take Apart Your Pallet
After finding 2 similar looking pallets from our pile of pallets in the backyard, Jason took apart each pallet using his circular saw.
We do LOVE our DIY pallet wood projects!
He was careful to save the longer vertical wood boards of the pallet for the frame of the DIY cornhole boards.
After he was done prying each & every board apart with his saw, hammer & crowbar we was left with a pile of GORGEOUS pallet wood!
For more tips on How to Take Apart a Pallet Safely, see our blog post HERE
Step TWO – Make the Box for the DIY Cornhole Boards
After the pallet wood was safely taken off of our two pallets, Jason started making each box for the DIY cornhole boards.
After cutting the two vertical & two horizontal pallet boards to similar sizes, he attached them using wood glue & exterior screws.
Step THREE – Attach the Pallet Wood to the Top of the DIY Cornhole Boards
After Cutting the pallet wood board for the top of the cornhole boxes to fit, Jason nailed them in with his brand new awesome finish nailer..which he loves absolutely LOVES.
Step FOUR – Cutting a Hole for the Beanbags to Fall Through
Once the pallet wood was across each of the two pallet Cornhole Boxes it was time to cut a hole through both the DIY Cornhole Boards.
After measuring for the top center of the cornhole boards, we traced a circle using our cereal bowl & a pencil.
Per regulation the hole in the DIY cornhole boards should 6″ diameter and the the center of it should be 9″ from the top of the board and 12″ from either side.
Jason first made a small hole with his cordless drill & then cut the beanbag hole with his jigsaw.
Step FIVE – Painting & Sanding the DIY Cornhole Boards
To give our DIY pallet cornhole boards a little more character, we painted a few of the pallet wood boards blue.
We switched up the pattern on each cornhole box to make them even more unique.
Then we sanded down the top of each DIY cornhole board box with out handy dandy orbital sander making sure to spend extra attention to the circumference of each bean bag hole.
Having a smooth surface and edges will prevent your bean bags from getting caught and ripped on the DIY cornhole boards.
Step SIX – Make & Attach the Foldable Legs for the DIY Cornhole Boards
We wanted to make sure that our DIY cornhole boards were easy to store in our garage when we were not using them.
After cutting 4 pallet wood pieces 11.5 inches for each of the four legs, he cut 2 holes of each leg for the Hex bolts & wing nut washers to go through.
The wing nut washers are easy to unscrew to tuck the DIY pallet cornhole legs out to play or in to store.
After putting the legs on the board and laying it flat on a hard surface Jason marked the angle on each leg that needed to be cut to have the legs rest flat on the ground when in use.
Step SEVEN – Play Cornhole
After finishing up the legs, it was time to play cornhole!
Rather than try & make the cornhole bean bags, I bought some heavy duty red & blue canvas ones from amazon.
ALL 4 of our kids & Jason loved playing cornhole in the backyard over the holiday weekend.
It really was fun to watch them play & have fun!
If you are thinking about trying to make some DIY cornhole boards out of pallet wood for your home, I hope this inspires you & answers all of your questions for how to make one!
by Tara Lehman
Don’t forget to pin our pallet DIY cornhole boards to your Favorite DIY pallet projects board on Pinterest!
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