This is my first ever new topic, so I’m a little nervous.
I would like to know why most of you young carpenters out there (most of whom have 3 or 4 inches of height on me) build your sawhorses sized about right for a short midget?
Is it to insure that your feet touch the ground on coffee break?
Thanks for the help on this.
Replies
Although I`m not all that young, I prefer a shorter saw horse. I use them for a variety of tasks, the majority of which brings materials up to a comfortable working height. Two examples:
(1) Stack of two bys ends up being easier to cut. Rather than having to raise saw up to chest height and reach forward early on in stack, bending slightly as you nibble your way down is safer and more comfortable.
(2) I very often use my horses to support a bench top. Assembly of cabinetry and the like is much easier to handle when it sits no higher than shoulders.
I have a pair of taller horses I use for trimming or painting doors and such, but the shorter horses get much more use.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
"DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"
How tall do you build them?
Most of mine are 30" and I'm not that tall.
I have a set of 12" horses for assembling casework and cub scout projects.
I'm with you. I like em waste high. The less I bend over the better.
I build mine about 30" high so I dont have to bend over..Ya just cant trust that Gunner fellla ya know...:)
Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"
Edited 9/26/2002 11:11:52 PM ET by Ron Teti
LMAO
Good to see that someone else likes a short horse now and then. I have a set of 4 10" square by 4' boxes and 2 2' boxes that I originally made to cut sheet-goods and also use just to get case-work up off the floor. A strip of wax paper and they become drying racks for back-priming or prefinishing trim..
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
"Most of mine are 30" and I'm not that tall."
What do you do? saw from underneath?
:º)
For framin' I like 24" that way you can saw across a sheet of plywood without over-extending.
When I build "hosses" I like to make three(or four). It is alot easier to make a cut in the middle of a 16-footer if at least one end has two supports under it.
On a big framing project I like to have 3-4 sets so when we sort out the lumber delivery we can put things right on the hosses. Keeps things off the ground, out of the mud and saves me from bending over that mant more times. (this will become more important to you as you become "seasoned")
Plus a shelf that is strong enough to step on helps when you are using them for staging. 24" is also a good standing height for drywalling most ceilings.
Mr TDo not try this at home!
I am a trained professional!
In tradeschool they had us build sawhorses as one of the projects and 24" was the spec'd height, when asked why so low the instructor said that they should be low enough to be able to put a knee up on whatever you're cutting should the need arise.
Jas.
I know theyre a bit pricey but I LOVE those metal adjustable horses
Be well
Namaste
AndyIt's not who's right, it's who's left ~ http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
I like midget, standard and extra tall horses, and in pairs is really dead handy too, ha, ha. Midget are good for tall cabinets that have to be assembled and worked on. Tall are useful for short items, and in between is useful for, well in between sizes. The height of saw horses in my workshop range from midget, ~ 10" tall to giant, about 32" tall. Of course I'm speaking as a furniture maker, not a site joiner or carpenter, but I imagine site joiners can find uses for (pairs of?) saw horses of different heights, can't they? Slainte.
"One should never generalize"
One of the lessons you learn quickly here is that you're talking to people from all over the USA and a few other countries. So what seems normal in your area is completely foriegn to others.
For a good example of this, search the archives for one of the discussions/arguements on using sidewinders vs. worm drives.
If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?
i always built them 24" .. but finally gave up after working with other carps.. they all wanted them at 30"..
here's a pic . of a cutting bench set up on 30" horses... any question why 30" is the winner ?
p.s. i always put their names and birthdays underneath in magic marker..this is probably Silver from about '92Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
30inch it is. Who's the guy cutting in the pic? I'd hate to meet up with him in a dark alley.Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
Forget the primal scream, just Roar!
that's Roy... my aceMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Yeah, I guess 30" tall sawhorses might work better if you insist on using poorly ballanced, gravity fighting, antiquated tools like bass akwards sidewinder circular saws. Lower ones work better for worm drives.
Brinkmann for president in '04
unlike you big he-men of the wet west.. we frail easterners can't heft a worm.. so we gotta work smarter instead of harder....
go figger.... what color tee ya gettin from duhammel... chartreause 'er pink ?Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I've been framing in the chicago area for the last 20 years hopefully with another 10 to go before I will have to consider the trim end of the house(career wise) Why do these guys use those awkward sidewinders .
you cant cut a straight line unless you crouch over them with both hands. Plus you have to replace them every couple of years . If you get one of the Skil Mag saws you get the light weight plus the accuracy and ease of use of the traditional sidewinder . To me the sidewinders are a cheap second choice to a real saw.
"Why do these guys use those awkward sidewinders?"
Some of them are ignorant of modern alternatives, benny. Can't hold ignorance against anyone, just have to try and enlighten 'em.
But then again, some of these guys know full well about worm drives and STILL insist on torturing themselves and their crews day after day...must be some combination of masochistic and sadist tendencies. Danged if I know.
The sad thing is, it's just like those disfunctional families you read about. The old ones teach the young ones, and so the cycle continues. Like that poor Nick Markey a couple years back - last I heard, they'd convinced him to sidewind. A shame, really.
I'm stickin' with forest green Mikey. Or maybe grey. That's what real men wear.
Brinkmann for president in '04
Hi, I had to send you a mesage. I can't believe you name the "horses"!!! I'm a carpenter from PA and I do the exact same thing. I get a lot of comments on the job site. Nice to know there is someone else out there that thinks a little humor is a good thing. By the way I have a Silver, Trigger, Scout, etc..........
Oh yeah did you ever notice that when it comes to thinking some people stop at nothing!!!!!!!!
Bob
I don't think I've built a set of horses since I was about 10...aside from the monsters we had to build in trade school......I buy the semi-disposable metal or plastic and throw them away when I finally cut them in half.
Jeff.......Sometimes on the toll road of life.....a handful of change is good.......
Blacks and bays, dapples and bays, all the pretty little horses.
C'mon, Mikey...
If your going to go name your horses like that, you at least have to describe them correctly...
They're 7 1/2 hands high, not 30"!<g>
I don't name my tools but my kids do (2 yr and 3yr). I have a craftsman compressor and a wet dry vac both named "Nu-nu"....Any one into Teletubbies knows what I'm talking about.
I used to be into telletubbies. (Po was my favorite)
Now I'm into Bob the Builder...............
In the 60's people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.
First it was teletubbies, then Bob...right now we are into Thomas the Tank engine...."In future, we shall all be more careful of coal." I gotta check myself in somewhere....
Boss, udaman! I couldn't have said it better. The horses I use the most, I bought and they're plastic....the fold away kind.
I got some of those too, not for rafters, though,# # # # # # # , # # #--# # # # !
I use em in multiple heights depending on what I'm doing. My tall set is about 40", but then I'm kind on the lanky side. They don't call me "tree" for nothin. I'm all about not bending over more than I have to. It's a long way back up there.
I try not to use saw horses , prefer to run an extension cord to the pile and cut there,seems to save a couple of steps . Execption seems to be stair stringers ,then I nail a couple of 2x4s on on the side of a partition wall at the height that feels good to me.
Got a plethora of heights, but I'm a sissy trim guy who whines if everything ain't just right. Got my saw on some 34" Rugged Buddy's. I also like the adjustable height metal ones, but dang they're heavy (whine, whine), make my wooden ones about 30"...but, have become a big fan of the fold up plastc ones, pickin' two horses up in one hand makes up for a whole bunch of height hoopola, and I don't even know how high they are, unless I see some roaches laying around)
Lighter is better... It's okay, I can fix it!
Plastic Horses that collapse are nice if you need a quick setup. For framing I need a horse I can load up with heavy timbers. My recent job horses are 3"x8"x 5' Spruce top. The legs are salvaged 2x6 Sugar Pine sloped 11 degrees in two directions let in about 6" from each end. I gusset the legs with plywood scraps. I add a 2x6 step about halfway up. I build my main horses all 30" so I can use them in series. For 8' ceilings, a two foot horse is perfect for me to hold a sheet of drywall with my head. To look at a level straight on when hanging a door I use a stool to raise my eye level above 6' 8".
I can't believe all the carpenters who get by without horses. A friend recently built a huge beautiful fine custom home and the whole time he cut on his knees with his miter saw.
I worked production framing in Sacramento Valley in the hand nailing 80s and so many worked off the pile because it was faster. I was employed doing pickup framing and I was one of the few who bothered to use horses. The main reason I use horses and don't work off the pile is for comfort. You can bend over for a thousand cuts before lunch to pick up the saw or a stick. Horses really cut down on the bending over.
Now I got to go back to work and make about a thousand more cuts
C ya
We may be slow, But we're expensive.
I'm framing right now, and I have one pair at 24", and two pair at 32". If I was by myself I'd probably cut the 32s down to 30". I nail a WORM DRIVE saw holder to one of the legs of each horse. I make them out of plywood, and they are kinda triangular- square-angled things. The saw hangs from its top handle.
My horses are light, easy to carry(one in each hand), and pretty strong. If they were stronger, they'd be awkward to carry and heavy.
Haha, you guys name your horses! I like it. I named my compressor the other day. His name is WALT, because that's what I left after peeling off the rest of the sticky letters and graphics.
Tom
We use an adjustable model to...it's called a Bobcat 773 with forks. It lifts the cut pile from ground level to 10'. I build wooden ones for the first and second decks, usually 30"...try to leave them with the house as a house warming present.
My personal preference is 32" for standard sawhorses. I do have a pair made just for repetitive jobs that require long periods of cutting. As I do a lot of tile work in the islands, 42" is perfect for your tile saw and tank. This gets the work closer to eye level, and does not have me bent at the waist for hours. My tile is stacked on two other standard heighth sawhorses w/ a plywood top next to me.
I believe that younger carpenters just can't read a tape!
"If left is wrong, then right is the only thing left, right?"