A simple saw bench build...

[steven c newman]

Kind of a refresher, as I may have posted a few pictures a few years ago, after it was built.

Doesn't take all that much material to do, nothing real fancy.

I had a bit of 2x10 handy, and went and bought a stick of 2x4x8' for some leg stock.
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Laid out a few tools...
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Used a Saw Tub to cut the slab to size....
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The part that was cut off, was made into a workbench. Had to enlist the stepladder and a couple finger clamps, then I could work on the saw bench's top..
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I could clamp it in place, to make a few angled cut-outs to house the legs Made four such cut-outs. Next, I cut four legs to size..
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Beveled on the ends. I was going for about kneecap height. Then a few screws were used up..
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This being the "plain end", I could add the brace to the outside, the other end also got a notch, which made the brace go and hide to the inside.
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There is one advantage to the stepladder work center....I can stand things up, and still clamp things in place.

Running out of space for photos, so..stay tuned for part 2.

[David Eisenhauer]

Stout enough to use for anything. Saw bench, saw horse, step stool, sitting bench and don't let the wife see it or it will be a pot plant table.

[steven c newman]

Ok, part 2. Once the legs and brces were done, and the bench sat nicely on the ground.....I could cut a notch on the one end..
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And I could use a plane to level the tops of the legs to the bench's top. Needed another plane to work over the bench's top..
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That way the top was flat, wouldn't do to have thing tipping side to side.
After that, maybe a test run?
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I deepen the notch a bit. Seemed to be a decent enough bench..
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Back legs are splayed a bit more, since that is where my weight will be.

Maybe a sunny afternoon on the back patio, some scraps and a few screws. Nothing real fancy, and it does stay out on the back porch. No room in the shop, and sawdust will just blow away. Just finished it's second winter out there, and I just used it to help cut down some plywood. I also just built a new back gate, doing the cuts on this bench.

Anyone else care to build one?

[Jim Koepke]

Nice work Steven. One thing about saw benches is once there is one, it always seem like another is needed.


Anyone else care to build one?

Saw horses, saw table, saw benches or what ever folks like to call them are one of my favorite projects. Trouble is I do not have any space to keep any more. A few of mine are already spending winters outside.

Here is an old build of mine:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?146777-Saw-Table-Project

It is still going strong.

jtk

[Shawn Pixley]

Nice bench!

Unfortunately, I don't have the space for one even.

[Luke Dupont]

Nice sawhorse! I really like the simplicity of your design.
I've been contemplating building something very similar, but as a sort of hybrid sawhorse/workbench for use when traveling, or when I want to work in the house. The only problems I'm having are the splayed legs; they're needed, but they would get in the way of working the edge of boards, and I can't seem to figure out a way to get around that. Maybe I'm trying to do too much with one bench, though :P

[Jim Koepke]

Nice sawhorse! I really like the simplicity of your design.
I've been contemplating building something very similar, but as a sort of hybrid sawhorse/workbench for use when traveling, or when I want to work in the house. The only problems I'm having are the splayed legs; they're needed, but they would get in the way of working the edge of boards, and I can't seem to figure out a way to get around that. Maybe I'm trying to do too much with one bench, though :P

Hi Luke,

I tried in vain to find an old article on saw tables showing them with straight legs instead of splayed. There were two with one built small enough to nest inside the bigger one to make the stackable for storage.

Did find this useful piece:

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/chris-schwarz-blog/using-a-sawbench

Also found a post here on SMC:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?225102-WIP-saw-bench

jtk

[Mike Holbrook]

This one I did in a Schwarz class at Highland Woodworking is about as simple as it gets but also very sturdy. Tapered M&T joints hold the legs in place. Now all I have to do is finish the second one. This is a project in Schwarz's new book "The Anarchist's Design Book". The first part is about "staked" furniture and this is the first project. Good way to learn how to make a tapered M&T joint, which is a polular way to add legs to Windsor/Irish & Welsh Stick chairs.....

click to enlarge:

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[Luke Dupont]

Hi Luke,

I tried in vain to find an old article on saw tables showing them with straight legs instead of splayed. There were two with one built small enough to nest inside the bigger one to make the stackable for storage.

Did find this useful piece:

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/chris-schwarz-blog/using-a-sawbench

Also found a post here on SMC:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?225102-WIP-saw-bench

jtk

I like that second link a lot. That's sort of what I had in mind. I'm considering how to attach the legs to the benchtop. Do you think dovetails would work, with the legs as the tails? My concern is stability of the legs lengthwise; it seems like I might need a supporting beam down the length of the bench at the top (as in a trestle table), but that would mean adding two more braces as well. I'd like the legs to be flush with the corner ideally so that I can try my hand at making a Roubo-style side vice on one of the legs.

Edit: I see the design you linked to used a supporting beam at the bottom. I suppose that alone would add enough stability? In which case, perhaps my legs should be pins instead of tails, so they don't pop out from the sides? Hmm...

[steven c newman]

Some of the thing this bench has done, including right after I made it...
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I needed to rip one 2x10 down into leg stock, and plane the sawn edges
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made a nice, stable place to run a plane around...
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been known to take old rusty saws, and clean them up outside......
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Set things up to do rip cuts in Oak....
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now, what does a grillhave to do with this? Well, I used the saw bench to help assemble that grill. I could put the different assemblies on the bench to add other parts
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And, even a mitre box was set up on it, at least until i could find a place to set up the saw in the shop.

About the only thing the bench did not like? Was when I was doing some heavy chisel work and one leg came loose. Decided to build a proper work bench for when I was chopping with the chisels.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Here is mine. I think I based it on a plan from Lost Art Press, but much like yours Steven. Cheap (a single 8' 2/8, plus a little glue and a dozen screws), rock solid, and it really improved my sawing, particularly for long rip cuts. The legs on mine are set at 10 degrees I believe, which looks really narrow in this photo, but is stable in use.

The only thing I would change is I would set the rear legs closer to the rear. My kids tend to want to use it to stand on, and if they get too close to the end it is tippy the long way.

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[Jim Koepke]

[Edited]
The only thing I would change is I would set the rear legs closer to the rear. My kids tend to want to use it to stand on, and if they get too close to the end it is tippy the long way.


That is why mine have the legs spayed in two directions. I try to make the bottom of the leg end up just inside the edges of the top.

I don't like sitting on them and having the far end lift off the floor.

jtk

[Mike Holbrook]

I also find the position of legs to be a very important factor. A friend and I did a project together years ago, making saw benches/horses. Over the next decade or two I tripped over the splayed legs more than I like to admit. Schwarz apparently did testing with the combined leg angles on the benches we built in his class, because they are very sturdy yet hard to trip over. Like Jim mentions the legs are splayed in multiple directions but do not protrude significantly from under the top either.

Schwarz and several other teachers suggest using a modeling technique, using blocks of wood and small pieces of straight metal to build models that can be viewed and tested from all angles. The idea being to use all ones facilities to perfect the design visually and functionally, then copy the angles for use on full size pieces. I first read of this technique in Drew Langsner's book "The Chairmakers Workshop" which I think is one of the classic works in woodworking. One of the nice things about "staked", tapered mortise and tenon legs is they can be placed at any angle in relation to the surface they are in, placing that surface at exactly the best angle.

[Jim Koepke]

Like Jim mentions the legs are splayed in multiple directions but do not protrude significantly from under the top either.

One thing I recall from my first sawhorse build is the instructions called for all angles to be the same. So the top's edges were cut at 15º, the legs angled out at 15º and the legs splayed toward the ends at 15º. Others have been done with all angles set at 5º and 10º.

jtk

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Mine are only splayed in the one direction. It seems to be stable enough, as long as a three year old does not put both feet at the very end.

[steven c newman]

Seemed the first thing we'd do at a new jobsite.....build a pair of saw horses. We'd get quite fancy, depending on what was on hand. We'd make the beam between the legs as an I shaped beam ( IF there was a piece of 2x6 handy, it would be the top) 4 legs cut at about 22-1/2 degrees. We'd add a bit of plywood on each end, notched a bit to fit around the I Beam. Build concrete forms...rebar mats....anything else that needed cut. By the end of the job...they were looking pretty scroungy.....tossed them. The really good ones? We'd load up on the tool trailer, and send it to the next jobsite. Whether we went to that site, or somewhere else.....sometimes, I'd run into them a few jobs down the line, I had made a few marks to tell whom made them. We never nailed them up, always used screws to build them.