Saw Benches vs Saw Horses?

[Stew Denton]

Hi All,

For years I have worked off of saw horses, often using 2X10 or 2X12 planks to make a workbench of sorts.

I have seen a lot on saw benches, and from what I can see, they are used virtually exactly like I use saw horses, for sawing, etc. In his book "The Anarchists Tool Chest" Schwarz describes the use of saw benches exactly in the same way I use saw horses, even exactly the same body positions for sawing etc.

One difference is that a lot of the times, especially for short pieces of lumber, I will use a plank on the horses to stabilize the lumber, and if it unhandy to put a knee on, will use clamps to hold it dead steady for sawing, so I can concentrate on staying on the line with the saw.

My questions is: what is the advantage of saw benches over the saw horses I have used for years? (I guess it's the carpenter work I did years ago, and still do on occasion, is still manifesting itself, hard to get it out of your blood.)

Stew

[ken hatch]

Stew,

I maybe thinking wrong but in my experience saw horses are too tall for use with hand saws much better suited for powered saws. My saw bench is built knee high with a flat top and puts the board in perfect position for either crosscut or rip. Maybe my concept of the two is incorrect or it maybe semantics and the two are the same critter.

ken

[Tom M King]

I've used handsaws on sawhorses for 41 years now. I built a lower "saw" bench in 1974. It's somewhere in the back of the pile in one of the storage buildings here. I haven't seen it for decades. 30" sawhorse is about right for me at 5'7". I usually use two hands on a rip saw if the cut has any length to it, and as much of the full length of the saw as possible.

[Stanley Covington]

Stew,

I maybe thinking wrong but in my experience saw horses are too tall for use with hand saws much better suited for powered saws. My saw bench is built knee high with a flat top and puts the board in perfect position for either crosscut or rip. Maybe my concept of the two is incorrect or it maybe semantics and the two are the same critter.

ken

Ken has it exactly right.

[paul cottingham]

I built me sawbench wide, and low enough my knee can rest o a board placed on it. It's narrow enough that I can straddle it, so I can sit on any board I am working on, but wide enough to be comfortable. I have a gap down the centre lengthwise for ripping, and drilling. I also have dog holes in the top so I can hold birds in place. The feet actually make a shelf so I can support a board on end to work on it on one end.

My saw horses, on the other hand, are made out of metal, too high and narrow to support a board on, I can't put my knee on the bird to cut, as it's too high, and I need two of them. I usually use them to hold a board so that I can sit down.

i realize there is hyperbole here, but there it is.

[Warren Mickley]

I use low trestles for sawing. I can use saw horses, but it is more awkward using my leg to secure the work. I currently use 19 inches high, but have used 17 inches also, about chair height. Here is a quote from Holtzapffel and a picture from Williamsburg.

316752316753

[lowell holmes]

Use what your comfortable with. Saw horses are used in my shop when I need to set up in the driveway to prep long lumber or plywood. They are not comfortable for me to use handsaws on.

The saw bench I have is what I use along with a Krenov shop bent when using handsaws.

I consider them to be different "critters" for different uses.

[john zulu]

It is a very good question. Saw horses nowadays are too high for hand saws. It is very good for long stock if the height is right.
Saw benches does provide a good base for hand sawing.

However I did away with the western methods and went with a japanese saw horse. It is much much shorter by western standards. My main saw on this saw horse is the Ryoba. I rest my foot and weight on the
stock while I rip cut. For cross cut I saw on the workbench bench or the japanese saw horse if the saw is a pull saw *dozuki*.

[Mike Siemsen]

Tomato, tomahto. When the handsaw was king a sawhorse was a sawbench. The proper height is based on the longest saw you will use, typically a ripsaw. You do not want the end of your saw to strike the floor. What passes for a sawbench/sawhorse nowadays is what used to called a trestle which was taller and you set coffins on them at wakes. You can see photos of mine here and see how and why they are made the way they are for use with handsaws. I sent Chis Schwarz a photo of my sawhorse and he said,"That is a sawbench."
http://schoolofwood.com/node/64

[steven c newman]

Used to build a pair of saw horses each time I arrived at a job site. Around 30" or so tall. They needed to be strong enough to allow me to tie up "mats" of rebar. I was a Carpenter who did concrete foundations.

Awhile back, I finally made a "saw bench". Had to use a "saw tub" to cut down a 2x10 to make the top. Set up a step ladder with the remains of the 2x10 waterbed side frame. Couple Visegrip finger clamps to hold things steady, and noctched the ends for some 2x4 legs. Splayed out a bit. added a brace at each end. There IS a saw notch on one end. last year, I even set up a rehabbed Craftsman 20" mitre box on the bench. It was a bit low, but then i could just sit down. top of bench is right at my kneecap height.

[Tom M King]

316870I should have included along with my preferences for 30" sawhorses, that I only have a 30" inseam, but ran hurdles (high and low) in school, am still flexible, and use my knee to hold the board also. All my handsaws are 26", and I don't have to bend over much at that height. I could go a few inches lower and still use the whole saw, but the bench or lower horses wouldn't be useful to me for anything else. I do cut all siding for houses with a handsaw-mark every piece with a preacher. That's the biggest handsaw job I can think of that I do. In short, it is personal preference.

[Graham Haydon]

Tom, Mike I call 'em a sawhorse too. Mike, your horses look very Diresta (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYBcQgLMjK8)! I severely doubt I have anything like the skill of the chap on the book cover but that's how I like to use them. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hill-interior-of-the-carpenters-shop-at-forty-hill-enfield-t03668 is a nice artisitic image of them in use.

[steven c newman]

Small saw bench...
316873
Needed a flattening
316874
crosscut
316876
Rip saw to refine the notch
316880
At least it is better than using a "Saw Tub"....

[Tom M King]

Tom, Mike I call 'em a sawhorse too. Mike, your horses look very Diresta (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYBcQgLMjK8)! I severely doubt I have anything like the skill of the chap on the book cover but that's how I like to use them. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hill-interior-of-the-carpenters-shop-at-forty-hill-enfield-t03668 is a nice artisitic image of them in use.

Mine are sawhorses. Just like the ones in this picture, except these are 32", and a little too high for a handsaw for me. I don't think I have any pictures of the 30" ones, but they are made just like these:
http://www.historic-house-restoration.com/images/ElamsHouse_Oct._2012_045.JPG

I use two most of the time, but sometimes a board gets laid on one the long way. By the way, that siding in the picture can be pushed in and out a little with a finger. If you make one too tight, by snapping it in, it will open up the one under it. It's Cypress, and I took that picture a couple of years ago of a house I built in 1991. We're getting ready to put a Cypress shingle roof on a house that will have fantailed hip ridges, and swept valley chimney crickets, so there will be a lot of handsaw ripping on that one. I'm going to have to build a special sawhorse to use up on a hip ridge.

[David Keller NC]

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).

[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.
317002317003


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