First Things First: The Essential Sawhorse

If I were to start woodworking from scratch, knowing what I know now, I would have to make sawhorses my first project. These workshop helpers are capable of providing the foundation on which you build your other workshop necessities, particularly, your workbench.

Sure, you could go and buy a pair. But why? They provide a wonderful opportunity to build some basic skills. And for the hand tool woodworker, you can build them to the key height for using them for their original intention: sawing.

Sawhorses can be found in varying shapes and sizes. I won't bore you with them; you can easily find them on the Internet. Instead, you can see mine, based on Adam Cherubini's. He built his from the log; I built mine from readily available construction lumber. The top piece is made from a 2x6 and the legs are cut from 2x2's.

As for basic sizing, my top piece is 25" long. The legs I cut long, 28", because I didn't know the splay angle of the legs. This length left me enough room to, once the sawhorse was complete, cut the legs down to 21". The height of the sawhorse should be about knee-level.

I built my first sawhorse outside, using the driveway and tailgate of my truck. The pictures show me cheating a little bit, using the first sawhorse to build the second. Its entirely possible, though, to build one without the other.

After cutting to length, drill the first leg hold with a brace and 1" diameter auger bit. Make sure you have a scrap backer board, to protect the bit upon exit and to reduce tear-out. 

Mark the length for one leg and cut it.

Mark the diameter of the peg on the end of the leg. Find the center and use a compass.

I roughed out the shape of the peg by splitting the corners off to almost the line. Then I used a spokeshave to round the end off.

After checking the fit and fine tuning, slide the peg in until its tight. Make sure to fit it so that some protrudes. You'll trim this off later.

Repeat the process for the remaining legs, using the first one as a guide. The legs need not have exactly the same splay. I eyeballed mine.

The finished horse. I didn't think to take pictures of the process of leveling the legs. First, you have to trim the pegs flush with the top. I used my handsaw and followed up with a block plane. Then turn the sawhorse over, make a mark on the edge-corner of one leg at the finished height, and use levels to transfer that mark onto two adjacent faces of the leg and then to the remaining legs. Then saw the legs to height, following the lines. You should end up with a sawhorse that sits reasonably level if not perfectly.

AMDG