Heigh Ho Sawhorse! Away!
Since Aaron and I were both working upstairs this weekend, we both required a set of sawhorses. However! We only have one set that was left in the basement when we purchased the house. So we needed another set.
Well! What is a wife supposed to do when her dear husband requires a set of sawhorses? She plunders the wood cast-off's pile, fires up her miter saw and makes him some.
There are a million ways to build a sawhorse. I like this one for longer jobs that require a lot of sturdiness because it is so solid, but it is a little more difficult to break down or store away.
It's one of the easiest sawhorse patterns because it requires only 1 angle size. It's a perfect pattern for a beginner looking to practice some skills because--hey--it's just a sawhorse. So you can use scrap wood and make mistakes and correct mistakes and it doesn't have to look beautiful.
Here are the pieces of wood you'll need and their measurements. The angles are all 17 1/2 degrees (cut with the wood up on it's edge...not flat. If you are unfamiliar with angle cuts, you might want to practice angle cuts on a scrap piece before diving in.)
For the angle cuts, I use our 10" miter saw (yes, this was my Christmas present from 2004.)
Bring the guide around to 17 1/2 degrees when cutting angles. If you are a beginner and have never used a miter saw before, you will be amazed at how easy this is after you have cut one angle.
If electric miter saws are a bit intimidating or not in your budget right now, try what I call a "muscle powered miter saw
I nailed these together but you can use wood screws if you prefer. I assemble mine in order of the numbers below but you can invent your own way as well.
No matter what you use, just try it. Get out the tools and work on it. Woodworkers don't emerge from the womb holding Sawzalls (except for Norm Abram maybe....) Everyone was a beginner once.
Et voila!
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Comments
You never cease to amamaze me.
Posted by: Peg | May 3, 2005 8:17 AM
And remember to always wear these before operating any machinery, your safety glasses....
Posted by: Gary | May 3, 2005 8:35 AM
Whoops! Yes, I should not have assumed that. Safey glasses are a must and never put your fingers anywhere near the blade of a miter saw. Being safe today means being whole tomorrow. :)
Posted by: jm | May 3, 2005 8:42 AM
I feel like such a looser...I BOUGHT saw horses this weekend. :(
Posted by: Heather | May 3, 2005 9:06 AM
Great entry - we were just saying we needed another pair of sawhorses (our set is currently holding piles of salvaged lumber off the wet ground) AND we are the proud owners of a new mitre saw. Maybe this'll be one of my weekend projects, so I can get acquainted with the new tool.
Thanks for being so inspiring ;)
Posted by: mindy | May 3, 2005 9:24 AM
I have these sawhorses that have a slot for a replaceable 2x4 on the working surface -- that way you can always pop out the old one and throw in a new one when you've chopped up the old one too much. Looks like you unknowingly left a perfect slot for a replaceable 2x4 on top...
Posted by: Phil from Milwaukee | May 3, 2005 9:27 AM
Those are some tidy looking horses you have there jm. I made myself a set out of scrap a few years back that look like something the dog threw up. I’d post a picture of them because (in hind site) they are so crude as to be a good joke, but they are currently buried under a pile of salvaged scrap in the pole metal building. Maybe my first project when I get my new chop saw will be a new set, made from your design.
Posted by: SD | May 3, 2005 11:17 AM
Wow! Great post and great idea. I'm going to make myself a pair. Never thought it would be so easy. Thanks a million!
Posted by: Ana | May 3, 2005 11:26 AM
Wow, I am impressed! :)
Posted by: Kristin | May 3, 2005 12:50 PM
you are such a cool and empowered woman. really, its amazing and inspiring.
Posted by: irasali | May 3, 2005 1:30 PM
You have so got to share. I just realized you did something I've always wanted to do. Your sawhorsemeasurements-thumb.JPG is linked to your sawhorsemeasurements.htm page and when the html page loads in a blank window, it loads to the size of the sawhorsemeasurements.JPG image instead of being a full page. How do you do that? Is it a property you set in the target= part of the href?
I got an email a little while ago, telling my new compound mitre saw is at home sitting on the deck. Guess who is going home to build some saw horses to set it on?
Posted by: SD | May 3, 2005 4:45 PM
SD-Hate to break it to you, but that "pop-up image frame size-thingy" is automatically handled by MovableType. We don't have much to to with how it works. That said, as far as I can tell it is controlled by code within the sending HTML page. Try opening up the source code for the entry and search for 'window.open'. It looks like that's somehow defining the size of the pop-up window.
Posted by: Aaron | May 3, 2005 5:02 PM
Thanks Aaron,
I grabbed the java script and also where it is referenced down in the body and will play with them when I get a chance.
Scott
Posted by: SD | May 4, 2005 4:03 PM