Convertible Oak Child Sled - Simple Design / Basic Tools

Step 3: The Deck

I love the design of the old school traditional sleds I grew up with that have the metal runners and the Deck that looks fast even when it is not moving. I wanted to use this type of design on my sled. I laid out the three deck boards on the floor and using painters tape masked off the tips until I found the design that I liked the best and a couple of quick cuts on the miter saw made it happen.

I cut the cross members from the 1 ½” x ½” x 48” oak using the deck boards to determine the width I needed. I wanted to give it a retro boat feel so I used mostly brass screws and on the deck added brass finishing washers. This not only gave it an aesthetic that I wanted but since the deck was only ¼” I did not want to countersink the screws. With the finishing washers you get the effect of countersinking without having to weaken the already thin wood. I only screwed in the front and back cross members as I thought it would look too busy with another line of screws. I still placed a cross member under the middle for strength. It is attached to the riser but not the deck.
It is starting to look like a sled!