Thread: Saw Horse vs Saw Bench..

Saw Bench



Saw Horse

I always thought that they are the same. The purpose is to cut wood, support long piece to use as a table for ones elaborate lunch or somewhere to sit.

Times do change. When I arrived here 30+ years ago I was politely informed that a saw horse was a stool, a table saw was a saw bench, cope/stick was scribe/ counter scribe and now dull is creeping up on blunt. I'm not even native born and I miss the old terms.

Originally Posted by Ball Peen

Times do change. When I arrived here 30+ years ago I was politely informed that a saw horse was a stool, a table saw was a saw bench, cope/stick was scribe/ counter scribe and now dull is creeping up on blunt. I'm not even native born and I miss the old terms.

and if you were gay you were happy. Just about every home has a mouse, some have several mice, some with tails some without, but there is not plague.

I would consider them both to be a form of saw horse.

Growing up during Dad building the house he always called them "saw horses" but when I started my Carpentry Apprenticeship my colleagues called them "saw Stools". I now refer to them as "saw stools"

Just a comment on the design of the stools in the photos...The legs don't seem to be splayed back! If you were to mount the stool and stand at one end you run the risk of being "bucked off" due to the leverage of you past the point of leg support. I don't like the Yanks design of their stools
This is my idea of a stool. Well its a two in one. But you can see the main shape of the stool I mean.
The attached Doc is the article I wrote for Australian Woodwork Magazine that they published a while back

My take is the saw horse has a narrow top and is fairly high, circa 600+mm, with a wide leg splay in 2 directions. The saw bench is lower, around 450mm for a person of average height, so one can kneel on the board. The top is wide, say 250mm+, and the legs less splayed. In some cases, like the Ron Herman bench, there are no legs, but solid vertical ends https://www.google.com.au/search?q=r...%3B2400%3B1600.
The purposes are different I suspect - the horse used mainly for sheet goods, and for power tools. The bench used for hand saws and mortising. My shave horse is 450mm high to be the same as my saw bench when made, I do use the shave horse as a saw bench on occasion.

Cheers
Peter

As a child I used the term saw horse(as per Dad), upon doing my carpentry apprenticeship they became saw stools.

Oh no. Not this ol' chessnut. Last time it nearly came to blows.

I like this variant - clicky

seems to be perfect for ripping