Folding Sawhorses

[lowell holmes]

I made some years ago out of 1X4 lumber and brass door butts. I use rope to keep the legs together.

Each leg is H shaped with each leg being flat on the top. If you want to see a picture, I will take one and post it.

I have loaded these horses with heavy heavy loads. They don't look like much, but they are remarkably strong.

I just used them in the yard to put tree limbs on and cut up.

[Matt Lau]

Please do!

I have hide-a-horses which are great, but expensive.

[lowell holmes]

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Here are pictures, what do you think?

I have loaded these up with 300 to 400 pounds.

You can see the battle scars.

I'm sure someone can improve on the design.

[Jim Becker]

Sometimes simple and reasonably inexpensive works the best!

[Andrew Hughes]

Why do we call them saw horses? This looks more like a saw horses to me.

[Jim Becker]

Why do we call them saw horses? This looks more like a saw horses to me.

ROFL!!!!!!!!!! I'm stealing that!

[michael langman]

That saw horse brought out a chuckle Andrew. Did you make it?

[Jason Roehl]

I've had a pair of (something almost identical to) these for years:

https://www.amazon.com/Frontier-Fold...aw+horses+pair

Slap a sacrificial 2x4 of your preferred length on top, and you've got a very sturdy pair of very portable saw horses. With your sacrificial 2x4 added, they fold up to about the size of a 4x4, taking up much less room than any other saw horse out there.

[scott vroom]

Lowell, your saw horses are dripping with nostalgia...my dad had something very similar when I was growing up.

I noticed in the photo on the left, the left end of the horse has a cut through the hinge....is there a story about that?

[Vince Shriver]

A friend made a pair almost identical. The only difference was instead of the rope he cut a stretcher 3/4 ply x 3" wide and long enough to hold the sides open. It was cut and hinged in at the center and then hinge on both ends. It was hinged so the stretcher would fold up into the center of the saw horse when closed.

[Charles Lent]

I don't use saw horses for cutting at all any more. I built a "cutting table" about 14 years ago and now use it instead of saw horses. It's just a 30 X 70" frame made from 1 X 4 pine with five 2 X 4 cross pieces installed flat and flush with the top edge of the frame, located at each end where banquet table legs need to be attached, plus one across the center of the frame. The only metal in this table are the legs and the short screws that attach them. I use this table much like most use saw horses when breaking down sheet stock, but when using this "cutting table" I no longer have pieces falling at the end of my cuts. They all remain on the table with no broken corners. I can break down sheets outside my shop for final cutting to size inside my shop, or use my miter saw with it to cut molding when doing trim work. Everything is done at a convenient table top level, so there is never any bending or working at ground level involved, which is becoming very difficult for me as I get older. I attached two square pieces of plywood to one side of this table frame with offset screws, so I can rotate them to stick above the table surface or rotate them 180 deg so they are below the table surface. These allow me to tip the table over on it's side and place a sheet of plywood or other sheet stock on these with the plywood leaning against the table, then bend down and pick up both the sheet and table, rotating both until the table is again on it's legs, but with the plywood laying flat on top of it. Then I rotate these squares of plywood to their down position and position the plywood for the first cut. Since there is no metal in the upper part of the table I can freely cut about 1/4" into it to be certain that I'm fully cutting through the sheet stock without any worry of hitting metal with my blade or cutting tool. The small kerfs cut into the table top add character and don't affect the table strength at all. If the table ever gets so many that they ever begin to affect my work I will just make a new top frame and transfer the banquet table legs to it.

When breaking down full sheets of plywood, I position the sheet so that my cut line is roughly down the center of the table. As each cut is made I remove the off cut and re-position the remaining plywood for the next cut. As cuts are completed, nothing falls to the ground. Both pieces remain flat on the table until I remove them. When using my circular saw with a fine tooth, narrow kerf blade and a shop made zero clearance Lexan saw shoe, I get no splintering of the cuts and the cut edge can be used without any secondary work, but I prefer to cut 1/8 - 1/4" over size and then trim the edges to final exact size on my Unisaw. When finished using my cutting table, the legs fold up into the bottom recess in the 1 X 4 frame and the "cutting table" easily stores on edge against my sheet stock at the end of my shop. It also travels easily on it's edge if I take it with me on jobs.

So this "cutting table" keeps all of my work at a comfortable level, avoids sheet breaking at the end of my cuts, and helps me position sheet stock for cutting. The only thing that I've ever used saw horses for since building it has been for low scaffolding support. Actually the photos posted are of my first cutting table. The newer one does not use a 2 X 4 outer frame. I have remade it using 1 X 4 pine for the frame to reduce the weight, but can't seem to locate the pictures of it.

Charley

[lowell holmes]

Scott, IIRC I was cutting a 2x6 off and had the blade too low on my "skilsaw".

We called all side winder power saws skilsaw".

[scott vroom]

We called all side winder power saws skilsaw".

Some of us still do

[lowell holmes]

I think there may be a track saw in my future.

[Rod Sheridan]

I've had a pair of (something almost identical to) these for years:

https://www.amazon.com/Frontier-Fold...aw+horses+pair

Slap a sacrificial 2x4 of your preferred length on top, and you've got a very sturdy pair of very portable saw horses. With your sacrificial 2x4 added, they fold up to about the size of a 4x4, taking up much less room than any other saw horse out there.

I have a very similar pair and really like them as well.....Rod