Make your own sawhorses - it's fairly easy

[FenceFurniture]

About a year ago chambezio very kindly made me a pair of sawhorses, which have been given a bit of a hiding lately. Still going strong though. Thanks Rod!

For the new deck I made a sawing bench about 550mm high, and needed a sawhorse to sit off the end of it. So, I took one of the legs off Rod's to check it out.

Each leg has a compound cut of 10°mitred and 10° bevelled.

The top has four rebates which are just 10° mitred (no bevel). The depth is about half the width of the legs. They probably could be bevelled as well, which would make the notching in the top of the legs a little easier. Because I used a wider top (150mm) I wasn't able to cut these rebates on the Mitre saw with the trenching facility, so I just used a handsaw and chisel.

The top of each leg has to be notched down the length by the thickness of the top of the horse, and the notch width is about half the thickness of the leg. The internal angle of this notch is 100° - this is to keep the leg out at 10° from the rebate in the top that I previously mentioned. If that rebate is bevelled as well then the notch can be just 90° internal angle.

All up, it took about 4 hours to make - about half and half, action and thinking.

Anyhoo, it was a fun little project in a day.

[BobL]

It looks pretty serviceable FF.

The cheapest Saw horse at Bunnings are ~$35 a pair so 4 hiours at $9/hr is a pretty good rate - most of my projects I'm working for less than $5 /hour

[FenceFurniture]

Cheers Bob. You're forgetting the cost of the 16 screws (timber was free).

[FenceFurniture]

Interesting to look at Bunnings offerings:
http://www.bunnings.com.au/search/pr...q=saw%20horses

The 2nd and 4th ones are put on by Aldis every now and then and I'm damn sure I didn't pay anything like those prices. Mind you, they only come on perhaps twice per year.

I have a pair of each of those and they're pretty good. You can see the 4th one folded up under the bench in the top right of my pic.

Another option for anyone making these is to screw on a sacrificial top.

[Bushmiller]

Brett

That's an interesting range. I bought a pair of the Craftright folding sawhorses a while back (the $17.50 set). I can't recommend them as the legs don't angle back far enough for stability and the tube from which they are made is too light. I suppose you only get what you pay for.

Your saw horse is the same design that all chippys have made since Joseph. I have made them in the past and still have one, but they are best in pairs. Excellent design.

Saw horses seem to be all the rage at the moment. Paul McGee has quite a good thread on this subject, but in particular I would direct you to post #10 and Roy Underhill's saw horse for those of you fabricating parts for the Harbour Bridge. I love his style. Laminate a few of your thin boards and you have one of his big bits!

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f152/bench-199317

You won't do it in Spotted Gum quite as easily as he does. Pine is the go there.

Will your saw horse be available for demonstrations/ trials at the GTG?

Regards
Paul

[FenceFurniture]

Will your saw horse be available for demonstrations/ trials at the GTG?

Yes, I'm planning on walking Nick off the end of it.

[rwbuild]

Hey, whats wrong with a couple milk crates and a short board, if you want height, 4 milk crates. The worlds most versatile tool

[chambezio]

Very nice job Brett. You kept the design going with your new one. When I make them, they are always in pairs, I use a dado set in the bench saw and for the compound cuts for the legs I use a tennon cutting jig on the bench saw again. The design is not mine. It was from an article in the Australian Woodworker about 15 years ago. I just duplicated design, took some photos and a spiel to go with it and they published it a couple of years ago.
Some where in the dark vaults of the Forum is a PDF of all the info to make your own. I usually draw it out on a piece of MDF just to get the angles right. My brother is 6'2" so I made his 75mm taller than the norm. On a pair of these stools I have placed nearly half a ton on the with no problem. Radiata is a good choice because its cheap and light in weight. I think that they would be in the same class as power points and toilets.....you can't have too many

[snowyskiesau]

A couple of years ago, I made a pair of these 14 minute saw horses, only took me 2 days.
They've been holding up my plywood/MDF stash ever since.

[Sawdust Maker]

Yes, I'm planning on walking Nick off the end of it.

you'll need this for the photos

[FenceFurniture]

Hey, whats wrong with a couple milk crates and a short board, if you want height, 4 milk crates. The worlds most versatile tool

Simple - they look cruddy on the deck.

[FenceFurniture]

I think that they would be in the same class as power points and toilets.....you can't have too many

Cheers Rod.

Indeed you cannot have too many. I have three different pairs, plus the single. Recent jobs have dictated that I need 3 or 4 horsies of the same height.

[FenceFurniture]

you'll need this for the photos

So you really are going to try the blindfolded selfie?

[rwbuild]

Actually, the saw horse you have made was the very first practical workshop item that all 1st year apprentices had to make when they started tech.

[Robson Valley]

I tried and tried = never got a correctly oriented set of legs on any of them.
Now, I cut down a nice, new freight pallet to 60cm wide, add more wood in the gaps and braced legs out at 15 degrees.
At least 6 of those in two heights, I got saw horse function and table function as well.