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I’ve been making this sawhorse since I was an apprentice. Two four foot 2×4″s nailed together in a “T”. Invert the “T” and nail or screw four 1×6 legs to it about 3 inches from each end. Depending upon your height and what is comfortable for you, the legs should be 34 inches long with the ends cut at 5 degrees, not square. Fasten the legs parallel to the top surface of the 2×4’s and slightly below it.This design is lightweight and very strong.I’ve had upwards of 300 lbs. of hardboard siding loaded on them.If you need to beef them up, just add a small plywood gusset to each end.As an added bonus, your framing square, assuming some people still know how to use them, fits into the space between the 2×4’s and the legs.I’ve enclosed a drawing for clarity. A carpenter is judged by the sawhorse he can build.Not just quality, but speed.A pair of these will take 15-20 minutes.
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The best pair of sawhorses I've ever used were made from scraps of 5/4 cedar deck boards. They stood 30" from the ground and were 40" wide. They folded flat when not in use, and were rugged enough to hold a cube of 3/4 plywood. They are basically two squares attached with heavy duty hinges at the top an a nylon rope at the bottom.The top board is held about 2.5" above the legs so a saw will not chew through any metal if you or a rookie forget to set the depth of the saw. The horses end up with a gap of about 1.5", which is perfect for pinching a long 2x in. This comes in handy when you need a place to paint a bunch of trim or something The bottom boards,while serving as the place for the rope to extend between(with drilled holes and knots), can make an excellent shelf.I can't take credit for the design, but it it always feels good when other tradesmen ogle at my horses in envy. They take a little longer to assemble but are well worth it. Good luck.
Jim
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Nice little stallions Mike!
*Nice try Frank. I stick a spike in the leg, and hang my sidewinder on the little hole that is in the back of the table. Try doing that with the worm drive.At least I don't need a winch to raise it, when I decide to make a cut!blue
*Looks good Mike, but too haeavy for an old broken back line mine.blue
*I actually inherited a pair, which I have knocked off many times...(and the originals are still around). They have a chunk of wester red cedar 4x4 at the top...and all the fasteners from the 2x4 legs are better than 2" down from the cutting surface. About 15 degree slant out both ways on the legs...and thin plywood bracing on the ends.(which is low enough that the 4x4 has space to slide in and stack above the bracing. The 2x4's are morticed into the 4x4's. The Craftsman likely inherited that design as well...and I bet these ones are 30 or 40 years old...I will still use them as a scaffold today. Poor guy got alzheimers about the time I entered the trade...(that is how I inherited them). L
*Hi Frank.Damn, I must be good. I build the same type of horses you described and it takes me about 7 minutes to build a pair of these in our shop; course I got a cut-off saw, table saw, and an air nailer at my disposal.Davo.
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I am looking for design ideas for easy to build saw horses from scrap wood possibly, because I have to replace a few horses in my collection. I appreciate any suggestions and would welcome drawings or photos. Thanks in advance.
*look, it's either a string..... or a stable ... or a herd... but it's not a collection...and , if you named 'em , they wouldn't stray...sorry, but i don't have any easy designs, just the hard ones that take forever to build, and only last about twenty years.....hah, hah
*These design ideas, suggestions, descriptions, drawings and photos.... Are they going to be just a chapter, or do you plan to make the whole book just about sawhorses ?View ImageCheck out some of the back issues of FH and FW for sawhorse designs. Plus, there are usualy designs in just about every book written on home woodshops.
*The basic modern dirtball 7.5 minute sawhorse is a 4' long 2x4 and 2X6 nailed into an inverted T with the 2x6 being the taller vertical member. 4 legs are attached to the inverted T that are short of the top edge. The legs can be either 1 or 2 by. They are splayed slightly front and back. The side splay is defined by the angle from the T base to a point near the top of the T.They don't have metal fastners within the top 2 or 3 inches so you don't have to be to particular about saw cut depth. T / Just remembe the T should be inverted and there are 4 legs not 2.That's my drawing and i'm sticking to it.joe d
*Yeah...Today's Homeowner is having a contest on best saw horse designs... Send me some of your designs, and I'll send them in and maybe win... They have to be original designs, so I couldn't go to a book or article and submit one of THOSE designs, I'd have to have one that isn't in print somewhere.I don't know about this... Who can't design and build a saw horse, or better yet, use one of the thousands of designs already available? Sounds kinda fishy to me...But then again, I could be wrongJames DuHamel
*I just use those cheap brackets they sell in every lumberyard to build mine, then reinforce the legs with a scrap of plywood. It makes a reasonably simple and sturdy sawhorse. I also like to nail a couple of 2X4 joist hangers on the side of one pair. Then you can run a couple of 2X4s between them to form a nice spot for cutting plywood.
*I've been making this sawhorse since I was an apprentice. Two four foot 2x4"s nailed together in a "T". Invert the "T" and nail or screw four 1x6 legs to it about 3 inches from each end. Depending upon your height and what is comfortable for you, the legs should be 34 inches long with the ends cut at 5 degrees, not square. Fasten the legs parallel to the top surface of the 2x4's and slightly below it.This design is lightweight and very strong.I've had upwards of 300 lbs. of hardboard siding loaded on them.If you need to beef them up, just add a small plywood gusset to each end.As an added bonus, your framing square, assuming some people still know how to use them, fits into the space between the 2x4's and the legs.I've enclosed a drawing for clarity. A carpenter is judged by the sawhorse he can build.Not just quality, but speed.A pair of these will take 15-20 minutes.
*I make them the old way. Rip a 4' long 2X6 15 degrees each side. Legs are 1x6 beveled 15 degrees top and bottom and splay 15 degrees too. Plywood gusstets and screws. 24" tall. I used the first set every day for about 15 years and just built a replcement set 4 or 5 years ago.I made a set the same style 30" long and 17" tall out of 2x4 and 1x4 for setting cabinets off of . I designed the plywood gussets so that when you stack the two "little ponies" they are the same 24" height as my regular horses. Invaluable as a third leg or for low scaffolding on eneven ground.
*My guess is that someone looked at their calendar wrong and thought it was already April 1.
*Jim,I have made several pairs of horses,pretty much as you describe.I usually make mine quite a bit higher though,cause I rarely actually cut on them.I make them a little less than waist high for seting the sheet metal brake on.I did make a smaller one,a little less than knee high ,which is known around here as the" saw pony".Was just the right size for my 2 sons to start work on and now in its declining years lives on as pretty handy step stool,bench,seat etc.Good Luck All,Stephen
*Yeah! That's exactly what I made those little ponies for originally too, my son, when he was 5 or 6. He never did like workin' with me much though (as if anyone else does) and wouldn't you know it, when he comes home from college this summer, he's gonna work with us. I can't wait.
*Same idea...though an I beam...and they do stack...but I am now in love with several pairs of the steel folding leg ones...So much easier to transport...Mostly used to set up jobsite tables as I like to cut from the pile or on a chopbox set up...near the stream,aj
*I need saw horses that are adjustable.. [I do a lot of counter tops] I use a 1.5" conduit for the strut & it works good. So just design your horse(s) around the thin wall conduit and you have a adjustible saw horse. [When I first started we called them saw jacks]
*Jacks, you called them Saw Jacks!? Why, son, that was long after they were called Saw Bobs. And that was after they were called Saw Bills, short for Williams.
*Frank Rotte's building the same pair that I use with a few minor detail changes.I normally build them with 32" legs, then add a 2x4 on the flat, on top. this brings them up a tad higher, and gives me a good place to place the saw, while not in use.I also usually use 1x4 for the legs. A gusset will give these properly angled stallions a ton of holding power. I've stacked huge amounts of lumber on these very light horses.I also require that each crew member make their own. I got sick of guys running their saw through mine. I grade the rookies saw horses, and won't let any that receive a subpar grade to "gallop" to the next house. It took several houses before the "cruits" figured out how to build a decent set. Some of the early ones were laughable.Estimated time to build these, using staples: 5 minutes.blue
*Well what do ya know, here I thought I was the only who built em that way.
*Great comments! If you set one pair of legs in a little farther or make one pair of 2x4's longer than the other, then they will stack and take up very little room. I've had horses last for a couple years under heavy use. They're usually stolen before they wear out.I also place a 2x12 across the horses as a table for cutting on. Toe-nail it so that your blade lasts longer.I also attach a shaped 1x6 or plywood to the side of a leg for hanging my worm-drive saw. Try doing that with a sidewinder.LOL.
*Good shot Frank, but it was WAY over the head of anyone backwards enough to still use a sidewinder.
*First Saturday of apprentice school we had to build a set that way (we even had to mortise the legs into the 2 X 6) and I had my first pair for at least 15 years. Great design.The next Saturday we had to build a tool box for our handtools. THAT lasted me at least 10 years. The next shoulder box I built, and still use every day, was just about the same size, but I used a square handle this time. I still think it's a mark of a pro when I see a guy throw his tool box up on his shoulder when he gets to the job in the morning. Kind of throw back to the old days.
*Heres the drawing that didn't show up the first time. Hopefully
*Rich--- You wouldn't be making sport of me? [I'm just an old fart]
*Frank,What kind of file is a .ala? Usually a graphic is a .tif, .gif or jpg.Martin
*Frank... i don't want your stinkin drawin...it was like 72K bytes, and then it said it was to large and then it displayed as a TEXT file...and this is the 2d time i got sucked into trying to download it...why don't u delete that sucker & send us a (*.jpg)picture...you show me yours... i'll show u mine...
*Now it's a tiff
*Sorry, I don't have a jpg option. I'm not a computer geek, I'm a carpenter.
*LOL well handled Frank. (It is allowed for you to be both, you know.)Here ya go.View Image
*Luka, How did you do that?
*here's Silver & Trigger, Silver is about two years old & Trigger is ten....Silver has a two x six back from a mill timber... absolutely straight vertical grain fir.. probably cut 150 years ago...both horses are 30 inches high, we're getting too old to stoop over for 24, besides they double as low staging and 24 inches doesn't get you very high in the world...