Sawhorses

[Gordon Maney]

Though I like the traditional wood sawhorses built by apprentices and on job sites everywhere, I did several years ago purchase some plastic ones. The marvel of the plastic ones is that they would fold up flat and were easy to move, requiring little space.

I also bought one pair that was considerably taller than standard, and they are very nice. I would like to buy some more, but have never found any source.

Does anyone know of a source for the taller ones?

What do you do for sawhorses?

As an aside, I have a pair of wooden horses built years ago by my former neighbor, Woody Larson, a wonderful man now dead. H worked as a carpenter all of his life; his father came to this country from Norway, where he had been a shipbuilder.

The two of them built houses and move houses with horses. Woody had many fascinating stories.

[BobbyMike]

I have a bunch of wood ones I use around here. They're beat up, cut up, painted, etc. Some I made, some I inherited from various sources. Tall ones, short ones, all kinds.

I also have a pair of higher quality steel ones (not the flimsy stamped metal ones) that fold. They're my job-site pair. I also have a tag-sale Stanley workhorse that I use as a stand for my Bosch miter saw (it's way lighter than the "portable" one that I have).

Instead of sawhorses sometimes I use two pieces of identical plywood that are slotted so that they form an "X" when put together. They're handier in the shop when I need to make a table or need to put together a cabinet. Nice thing about these is they fold flat for storage. They do need to be used on a flat surface though.

[Charles Talbert]

Makes a great table

Along these same lines, 1 of the handiest things around our shop are 2 light weight metal tubing frames, just the right height for good working platforms. They are actually the metal frames that John Deere mowers & garden tractors are shipped from the factory to dealers in. Most dealers are glad for you to haul them away. We use extensively for doing body panel repair, (can use a c-clamp to hold panels secure), just add a piece of 3/4" plywood & you have a perfect height work table for any project. Light enough for 1 man to move easily. We use ours daily for lots of different task. Another favorite item here is our Little Giant ladder system; you can believe all they say in the informmercials on TV. This is the best & safest ladder I know of, well worth the $400 price tag; steady as a rock. We use it a lot to gain easy access when working up high on 2 1/2 & 5 ton trucks; makes changing flourescent light tubes a breeze at 14' heights.

[HWooldridge]

I do more welding than woodwork so my horses are made from pipe. The legs and cross piece are 1-1/4 black pipe, with 1" stubs welded into one side only (can be either the cross piece or the "A" that the legs form). I don't weld it all together so they can be taken apart plus the "A"s pivot on the stubs to sit solidly on uneven surfaces. For woodworking, I toss a piece of plywood on the pipe horses so I can cut without damaging blades.

My grandfather was a professional carpenter and he said horses were the mark of a craftsman. His were nailed together then bolted with all-thread and carriage bolts and were always painted when new. The bottoms would usually rot off before the tops got loose but when the tops did get cut to pieces, he would unbolt just them and make new ones. Reminds me of the old joke about the city slicker who remarked that the farmer's ax looked pretty old. The farmer replied that it had belonged to his great-grandfather to which the other responded that it sure was in good shape to be that old. The farmer comes back with "Well, of course, it's only had two heads and five new handles."

[MoparNorm]

Heh! heh! Good story. I've used the plastic Stanley ones, they adjust for height and fold flat and they are surprisingly steady, if used properly, but my old standbys are two sets of wooden horses that are 20 years old and hard to transport and take up too much room to store. One set is covered with carpet for door and finish panel work, one set is painted, cut and dinged, because of an assortment of uses and abuses, but both are still going strong. I've replaced the nails with screws and re-built one brace, but they are going to outlast me. They are 4 feet long and 36" high, when I need a table I just throw a sheet of plywood over them and I'm all set. They will support 6x16's 20' long, that's about 800 lbs, I don't think the plastic horses are safe for that amount of weight, plus the added shear pressure of twisting and cutting and drilling on the work piece.
I also use them for welding, but I have a metal table with a 6" vise and a 50lb anvil for serious metal fab. The table is a 4'-0"x7'-0" metal fire door, it workes great but is no longer portable after my 55th birthday.....= )
MN

[Gordon Maney]

Originally posted by MoparNorm
Heh! heh! Good story. I've used the plastic Stanley ones, they adjust for height and fold flat and they are surprisingly steady, if used properly, but my old standbys are two sets of wooden horses that are 20 years old and hard to transport and take up too much room to store. One set is covered with carpet for door and finish panel work, one set is painted, cut and dinged, because of an assortment of uses and abuses, but both are still going strong. I've replaced the nails with screws and re-built one brace, but they are going to outlast me. They are 4 feet long and 36" high, when I need a table I just throw a sheet of plywood over them and I'm all set. They will support 6x16's 20' long, that's about 800 lbs, I don't think the plastic horses are safe for that amount of weight, plus the added shear pressure of twisting and cutting and drilling on the work piece.
I also use them for welding, but I have a metal table with a 6" vise and a 50lb anvil for serious metal fab. The table is a 4'-0"x7'-0" metal fire door, it workes great but is no longer portable after my 55th birthday.....= )
MN

6 X 16 ? Really? Where do you get those?

[MoparNorm]

Not only were they 6x16, they were pressure treated! Any real* lumber yard can order them, I've used beams up to 8x20 before, but most lumber in these sizes has been replaced by glu-lam beams, because of the cost. I couldn't get glu-lams pressure treated without degrading the strength of the beam, so I went with real timber.
MN
* not Lowe's or Home Depot! Although in their defense, they can probably order them from a mill also.