Jawhorse User Question

[Lewis Ehrhardt]

This is for Jh users. What do you use your jh for? I'm thinking of getting one since I have such a small shop and don't have a work bench. Would the jh be something to consider. Just looking at it in operation, doesn't seem too stable for hand planing work. Thanks for the input. L

[Rick Potter]

I am with you Lewis,

Curious to see the answers. The Jawhorse looks like a great concept to me for working on a job site, but I am not sure of it's value in the shop?

Rick Potter

[Steve Kohn]

I used one when building a playset for my granddaughters. I was not impressed, pretty flimsy. I'd take my old homebuilt sawhorses or an B&D Workmate any day.

[Bill Petersen]

I use it fairly often when I need a third hand. Last week it was to hold the shaft of the weed wacker while I worked on it. This week it held the cast iron wing for my new saw while I installed it. I've used it as a temporary miter saw stand and as an infeed support for long stock. For the little bit of space it takes up when folded away it's a great tool. I don't think it would replace a workbench but it is pretty handy.

Bill

[brian wight]

Ive had one for a couple years and I use it pretty frequently, at least once or twice per week. I wouldn't at all call it flimsy, other than a plastic knob used to lock the third leg in place (which does not have to be heavy duty). Many of the uses could be performed on a bench vise (which I do not have) if you don't mind carrying stuff to your bench.

Using it to hand plane would be tough if the piece is larger than the footprint of the legs.

A couple of my favorite uses so far have been to hold a brake caliper bracket while I attempt to pry off a seized slider pin, using it as a stand for a big table umbrella to block the sun while digging post holes. Having a portable vise is great for outdoor projects so I wouldn't have to haul material all over the place.

[William C Rogers]

Hi L
I have two of them. For what I am using them for they work great. I am building cabinets and have a couple of 8 foot 2x4s in them and use them as an out feed for my router, saw, and jointer. Using them yesterday where I was joining 12 foot boards and put 1/4 plywood on them to used as an extended outfeed and worked great. I have also used them where i was staining and finishing a lot of trim. With 8 foot 2x4s there is some "movement" end to end, but using them for outfeed is better than rollers as rollers tend to guide the work if they are not very square to the machine. I haven't tried to use them as saw horses with shorter 2x4s, but suspect they would be "adequate", but not as stable as fixed saw horses. If you are just using them as saw horses then maybe they are not the best choice, but the fact that you can raise, lower, tilt, and turn offers a lot of flexibility you can't get in a fixed saw horse.

Bill