Saw Benches vs Saw Horses?

[James Pallas]

Two very different tools to me. I think portable work bench and smal light bench for smaller work. I would hate to cut 50 DF Jack rafters bent over an 18" high saw bench or try to brace a door for plane or hinge work or use a mitre box or stick moulding for that mater. Sometimes for extensive work I saw Nicholson style benches built on site to facilitate the work.
Jim

[Tom M King]

Tom - OK, I'm really confused. If your sawhorse is 30" high, and your inseam is 30", how in the heck to do you hold the board you're sawing with your knee? Something about the geometry seems a bit off. In my case, my knee is 21" off of the floor when bent 90 degrees, so that's the height of my sawbenches. If they were any taller, my other foot would be off of the floor, or I'd be using only my arm to run the handsaw (instead of using the weight of the saw to assist).

I guess you missed the point about me running hurdles in school, and still being flexible. I don't assume other people, or at least not many, are built that way. The trailing leg going over a hurdle is out to the side and flat with the knee bent forward. High hurdles are/were 3'3" in high school, and 3'6" after that. At 5'7", I still got three steps between the highs. We used to practice brushing a popsicle stick off the top of the hurdle without disturbing the hurdle. A 30" inseam is for pants. There's still some extra inches in there from crotch to floor. Throwing my leg up is much easier for me personally, than bending over.

[Mike Allen1010]

As several guys mentioned, the question of saw horses versus saw bench is a matter of personal preference. Whatever works for you and the kind of work you do. Either can be made the appropriate height for the task you wanted to do. I'm about 90% hand tools. I don't have a table saw and I much prefer a saw bench largely because it has enough mass/stability to hold everything solidly, even if I don't have my knee on top of the workpiece, which isn't always optimal. In particular, for long rips if much more powerful and effective for me to have both feet on the floor all the time.

FWIW, This is my third generation saw bench. Out of Doug Fir from the local BORG. Roughly knee-high, 25" wide and 40" long. The legs are 6 x 6 and bench probably weighs 40 – 50 pounds. Holds the work solidly, with plenty of clamping options, yet is still light enough to easily slide back against the wall when not in use. I like holes for holdfasts and the slide up stop for crosscutting.
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For me, having a proper saw bench dramatically improved my sawing skills and was the biggest driver behind getting rid of the table saw - YMMV.

All the best, Mike