The parts, by name

A plain glossary, so a listing that says clevis pendulum stops being a guess.

Why this page exists

Half the difficulty in buying swing hardware is that two listings use different words for the same object, and one listing uses one word for two objects. Nothing here is complicated. It is just unlabelled.

The timber

Beam: the horizontal member the swing hangs from. Leg: the angled member holding the beam up. On center: a distance measured from the middle of one thing to the middle of the next, which is how spacing is always given and which is not the same as the gap between them.

Nominal and actual: a four by six is not four inches by six inches. It is the size before the mill dressed it, and the piece in your hand is smaller. Every hole position you read has to be checked against the actual piece.

The fasteners

Lag screw: a heavy screw with a hex head, threaded into wood, holding by the threads it cuts. Through bolt: a bolt that passes all the way through and is held by a nut on the far side. Carriage bolt: a through bolt with a domed head and a square collar that bites into the wood so it will not turn while you tighten the nut.

Washer: a flat ring that spreads the clamping load so the head does not sink into the timber. Lock nut: a nut that resists coming undone on its own, which matters on a joint that moves all day.

The hanging parts

Hanger: the bracket that bolts to the beam and gives the chain somewhere to pivot. Pendulum: the moving part inside a commercial hanger, hung on an axle. Clevis: a U shaped fitting with a pin through both ears, which is the shape most commercial pendulums use.

Swivel: a fitting that lets the load rotate about a vertical axis, needed for anything that spins. Bushing: a plain sleeve the axle turns inside, usually bronze or nylon. Sealed bearing: rolling elements in a closed housing, quieter and not serviceable.

The connectors

Quick link: a small oval link with a threaded sleeve that screws closed. Shackle: a U with a removable pin, sold as a bow or a D depending on the shape. S hook: an S of steel wire, which is only finished hardware once both ends are closed down.

The published gap figure for a closed connector is under four hundredths of an inch, and that is a clothing measurement rather than a strength one.

The space

Use zone: the clear area around a swing that has to stay empty, which published guidance sizes from the height of the beam rather than from the seat. Fall height and surfacing come from the same public playground documents. They are written for parks, and they are worth reading anyway, because the geometry does not care who owns the yard.