Thread: Sawhorse plans?

Just thought of what I think will be a foolproof way to get all four legs level (without trimming them later).

Attach the first three using the clamping system:




and then stand the three legged horse up on the bench (a known flat surface). Then clamp the fourth leg in place so that it touches the bench, and screw it on.

Too late for this time, but the caps fixed things up a little bit.

By far the slowest part was the painting. I seem to recall seeing this colour scheme at HMAS Creswell (back in the days when you could actually drive around in there).




I had another thought about the I beam too. For those with a tilting tablesaw you could glue two pieces together to form a square profile, and then cut 10° faces on each side. That would allow the legs to be glued and screwed which would make them very strong indeed.

When I was screwing in the 75mm 14 gauge there was a danger that it could crush the corner of the bottom of the I, and this would change the angle. Screwing them onto a flat face would obviate this.

Alternatively they could be faced on a jointer with a tilting fence.

The painted one has come up heaps better than another paint job done at your!!!


PS - What were you doing down at Officer training school?????

Originally Posted by crowie

PS - What were you doing down at Officer training school?????

Just cruising around taking in the beautiful period architecture.

I thought you were going to say "learning"'

I finally got back to this. I know they aren't pretty but took me an hour to cut and screw them together, which is fast in my workshop. The place is in terribly disarray and as soon as I get some clear weather I'm doing a major cleanup.

Anyway some pics. I more or less followed the plans apart from making them shorter and longer than suggested. Legs are 650, bottom of I is 850 top is what was left, about 4" overhang. I may trim them later if it causes problems.

The angle on the legs looks too narrow but they seem pretty strong and stable. I did get some splitting because I just screwed with no predrilling. I used some old cheap screws I had laying around.

Anyway they will do for now. I've got a job coming up I will need them for.

Pretty is irrelevant - mine are certainly not so now after being used for painting some boards. They only started that way because they needed the paint protection for much of my intended use.

I thought the same as you re legs angle too narrow, but they are fine. Narrow is good strength-wise but not so much tilt-wise, but no risk of them tilting over, even as top heavy as they are. I quite like the extra beef that the I beam gives. They are not so easily kicked around (but of course less forgiving when you knee them ). Carrying 4 at once is a bit of a chore though....

I made mine from the non structural pine studs from bunnings so they aren't too heavy. I think they are 35 x 70 or something.

When I get time I'll experiment with making some more elaborate ones but if anyone needed a really quick and dirty set just to get something done I think this must be about as quick as they get. If I'd had tools and screws to hand I reckon they could be done in 1/2 hour...

Doing anything in this humidity is a struggle. The sweat was runnning off me this morning in an almost constant stream. It was dripping, but only just. I do about 2 hours and I'm shot...

Anyway at it again. Mowing now...