Those of you with Paulk Workbenches - How handy are the sawhorses?

[Marc Fenneuff]

Today I break down sheet goods on a pair of collapsible sawhorse spanned with 3 or more 2x4s. I use a circular saw and straightedge but eventually will upgrade to a track saw (reasons: better cut quality, squarer cuts, dust collection).
The first step though is to buy or make some taller sawhorses, as I find that in my limited shop space I oftentimes use the sawhorses and whatever is left of the plywood as a makeshift work area / assembly table. I'm intrigued by the smaller Paulk Workbench, particularly the open box construction, light weight, and how it breaks down (OK, only the larger bench plans break the top down into two pieces). I also like the idea of the Parf system of dog holes for track saw use.
Anyway. Saw horses. I see a lot of people build these style workbenches atop dimensional lumber but I'd like to know if anyone has built the Paulk sawhorses from the plans, and if so, what you thought of them. Thanks.

[Bryan Lisowski]

I built them according to the plans and they worked fine. I used on the driveway, so sometimes I needed to put a shim in places. I stopped using because I thought the bench took up too much storage than I could afford. I gave to a contractor friend of mine and he still uses.

[richard poitras]

I think for the price I would get a set of these https://www.googleadservices.com/pag...IBBDZAQ&adurl= as they fold up and are ajustible and could be used many a ways instead of limiting you just for the bench??

[Marc Fenneuff]

Thanks both of you for the replies. Yes I have looked at the toughbuilt adjustable horses too. I guess not many have made the Paulk horses. Yes Richard I would not want a horse that could not also be used... as a regular sawhorse.

[Nick Drake]

I have them with a wood stretcher that makes for extremely fast set up, about one minute to get the bench ready to go. With the cut outs in the box dropping over the hinges that gives you some lateral location of the bench top that keeps it from shifting as easily as it did on regular old sawhorses. Storage/transport is nice because everything fits inside the box.
If your use is more geared toward carpentry the notches are great for stock storage.

It's very important that your holes are precise, I would follow his idea of taking your time making a template and doing final form with a router. If I were doing another set of them I would make the template set for a flush trim bit and do the rough cut with a jigsaw. His idea of a guide bushing and using the router as a saw is accurate, but extremely tedious and makes a ridiculous amount of waste (one bench/horses filled a CT36 bag). I'd rather do the rough cut with the jig saw and take the piece over to router table with a flush trim bit.

[Marc Fenneuff]

Thanks for your input. I’m leaning towards making the larger sawhorses that go with the full-size 4X8 workbench. Would like to avoid using hole saws though. I hate hole saws. I’ll probably buy the plans to get a handle on how I’d proceed. God knows I’ve watched enough of the construction videos.

[Nick Drake]

Thanks for your input. I’m leaning towards making the larger sawhorses that go with the full-size 4X8 workbench. Would like to avoid using hole saws though. I hate hole saws. I’ll probably buy the plans to get a handle on how I’d proceed. God knows I’ve watched enough of the construction videos.

I hear you on the hole saw! Getting a perfectly tangential straight line between two big old holes seemed like more trouble than it was worth. I just made rectangles for the jig cut outs, the guide bushing or pilot bearing will do the radius for you........well unless you do the jig saw/flush bit method and overcut.

[Marc Fenneuff]

I bought the plans, just need the materials. I’m not sure yet how I’ll efficiently tackle the sawhorses.