So yeah, I’ve been into basketball for ages, and lately, I’ve been messing with wood projects in my backyard shed. One lazy Saturday, I was flipping through some old sports magazines, and this idea popped into my head: why not make a basketball pad for dribbling drills using larch timber? I mean, it sounded dumb at first, but I figured, “Heck, why not give it a shot?” Larch timber’s pretty strong, and I had some scraps lying around from last summer’s fence repair. No big plans or designs—just winging it like always.

Getting Started

First off, I dragged myself down to the local hardware store. Grabbed a few pieces of larch timber—they were kinda rough and cheap, which was perfect for my budget. While I was there, I snagged some screws, a hand saw, sandpaper, and a drill because my old one was busted. Back home, I cleared out the shed workspace. Man, it was dusty as heck, so I swept the floor real quick and laid everything out on the workbench. Didn’t bother with fancy sketches; just eyeballed the size I wanted. “Kinda like a small rectangle for knee-high dribbles,” I mumbled to myself. Then, I measured the timber with a rusty tape measure, marked it up with a pencil, and started sawing.

Man, cutting that larch wood was tougher than I thought! It split a bit on the ends, so I had to go slow and steady. After hacking away for like an hour, I had four uneven pieces—not pretty, but good enough. Next up, sanding. I spent forever rubbing those edges down, thinking it would make it smoother for the ball. Sandpaper scraped my fingers a couple of times—ouch—but I pushed through, making sure it wasn’t too splintery.

Putting It All Together

Once the pieces were prepped, I started assembling. Drilled some pilot holes because last time I skipped that, the timber cracked like crazy. Then, screwed the pieces together into that rectangular shape. It wobbled a bit, so I added extra braces underneath for support. “Gotta make this thing sturdy,” I kept saying aloud. After tightening all the screws, I tossed my basketball on it just to test. The ball bounced okay, but not great—too hard. So I grabbed an old yoga mat from the garage, cut it to fit the top, and glued it down with some heavy-duty adhesive. Waited for it to dry overnight, which felt like forever.

Morning came, and I gave it another shot outside on the driveway. Dribbled like mad—ball bounced higher and smoother with that mat layer. Win! But I noticed the timber was a bit dull-looking, so I slapped on some waterproof sealant I had lying around. Made it shine up nice and protect it from rain.

Final Touches and How It Turned Out

Now that it was done, I called it my “pad basketball level larch timber” thing. Set it up near my hoop and practiced for a solid hour. Dribbling felt awesome—responsive and easy on the knees. Took a photo on my phone to show off later. Honestly, it ain’t perfect; the glue seeped out in one spot, and the whole thing’s a tad crooked. But it works, and I saved a bunch of cash not buying store-bought crap. My kid even tried it and loved it, which was a cool bonus.

Funny story about this project: while I was sanding, the neighbor’s dog got loose and ran into my shed. Chewed up a chunk of the timber! Had to chase the mutt out and patch the hole with some extra wood filler. Neighbor apologized later with a six-pack of beer, so we sat on my porch drinking and laughing about it. Made the whole mess worth it.