How to Make Real Sawhorses Series

13 Comments

1. Andy Rawls beat you to it – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGKyZQ1axkY

2. I have been waiting for this series! I am really looking forward to building these sawhorses — thank you for creating this content. You and your team continue to be an inspiration.

3. I have been waiting for these, since I saw them in your blog a year ago. Something in the written directions did not translate to my hands well. Looking forward to watching you build one.

4. No, I don’t like your sawhorses,theydo not stack properly. Make the gussets come to where there’s a four inch gap between the legs and let in a crossbrace about ten inches from the floor.

   1. Would you mind sharing your design?

   2. S. Richardson, I echo Michael Ballinger’s request. I appreciate that shortening the gusset will give a more compact stacking arrangement, one that won’t wobble as you drag the stack around, for example. I like that. But is seems that a lower cross-brace, as you say, although it would help the legs to resist splay quite well, would completely scotch the stacking feature. Is this your design? Thanks, Lee

      1. They stand four deep just fine. Looks neat and tidy, lift off cleanly. That’s what you need. Shortening the gussets weakens the legs and crossrails are unnecessary if you do indeed use this pattern. I love it so one “love it” counters 10 “don’t like its” I think.
         Oh! And we only had one don’t like it I think.

5. Getting the keys to a fixer upper house next month and I think a couple saw horses could be well handy!

6. My first job as an apprentice was to make a pair of horses. Needless to say, they were all wrong, and , after the general derision came to an end, I got a lesson in building a proper sawhorse. I still build them exactly that way to this day

   1. Tim, yes, and how is that, exactly, if you please? I have been mulling over the different styles of making sawhorses, that is, those using decent joinery, for some time now. They fall into two categories, I think. Those in which the legs’s surfaces lie in a plane both fore ‘n aft and athwartships yield footprints which are rectangular, although the cross-section of the legs is lozenge shaped. These planes form the sides of a pyramid. Paul’s fall into the other category; the legs retain their square or rectangular cross-section, but yield a lozenge footprint. The planes containing the surfaces of the legs are all skew.

      Tim, a pic or a sketch of your style would be greatly appreciated. These simple pieces of shop furniture, made with integrity, inspire and inform all the work that they bear. Lee

7. Lee:

   Not sure how to include a picture in this , but let me see if I can explain it.
   24″ high, and 36″ long. 30 degree included angle between the legs, wich are square to the ends of the horse ( remember this is being done on the job, and has to be just knocked out.)
   The back of the horse is 2×6, legs 1×5 or 1×6, and gained in to the ends of the back- I knew guys who used a circular saw for this, and just cut the bevel the whole length; I’ve always used a handsaw and made the bevel to fit the leg. Then nail a cleat on the inboard face of each pair of legs 8″ high to support a longitudinal strut ( at least 6″ wide, to serve as a shelf.
   That’s about it. I have a pair behind my shop that is more tham ten years old. The bottoms of the feet are getting a little frayed, but I can still work on them.
   I hope this wasclear enough to help.
   Tim

   1. Tim,
      Clear as a bell, thanks! I am adding this to my archive. Lee

8. Made a pair of these this past weekend based on previous blog posts. Very sturdy and the height given is great for getting over the wood you intend to saw. Pretty quick and fun build overall.

Comments are closed.