Carpentry,, Questions,,, and Answers,,!

[CADplans]

I will admit, I am easily lost when it comes to carpentry,, Give me a torch, and a welder,, and I feel at home,,

Well, I still need to drive a nail, occasionally, (AND , I usually select the WRONG nail :laughing: )

I am lost around a circular saw, but, recently, I finally watched some YouTube videos,, and learned about that saw,, a little.

So, I thought I would start a thread, hopefully to get some carpentry answers when I am lost,,
and also,
have a thread where I could share some stuff that I find that does not seem to be common knowledge,,

FIRST, my first question,, what is the right size for a set of saw horses?
I have two sets, both made of steel, and both seem too big.

The first set is close to 6 feet long, and the horizontal part is 6 inch wide flange beam.
The other set is made out of square tube, but, they are still about 5 feet long,

If I make a new set of saw horses, how long should the horizontal part be?
4 feet seems like it would match many sheet materials, but, 4 feet still seems to be unwieldy,,

Is there a rule of thumb on saw horse dimensions?

Please help a guy that was only trained to weld,,,:confused2:

 

[MossRoad]

I have had a set of saw horses that is 24" wide for about 30 years and I've never had any problems holding 4' sheets on them.

 

[bcp]

I like 4 feet wide to make it easy to cut plywood lengthways.

Bruce

 

[tallyho8]

My saw horses are 36" wide, made out of 3/4" EMT conduit, fold up, and have served me well.

 

[4570Man]

I don’t think there’s any standard on sawhorses. Most of them are built from scrap lumber. My personal requirement is a wood top that’s nail free so you can cut across it. Here’s my favorite pair of saw horses I’ve ever had. I don’t like fixed ones because they’re to hard to transport. These are the only folding ones I’ve had that are sturdy and they offer the freedom to make them as wide or short as you want. I had a set mad out of channel iron that I never used and sold. You could have set a loaded dump truck in them but they were too heavy.

 

[spitter]

What 4570 said no to carpenters built alike no to horses built alike. you want a horse that you could rip a sheet of plwood in half and work on comfortably . buy those metal hinged horse braces that you screw 2x4s into to make a quick horse and try out different hights to see what works best for you . I have 6 or 8 different hight sets for projects I have going on my best set by far is my sheetrock horses [walboard brand ] made out of aluminum adjustable hight from 12" to 4' with extendo legs they where $600 for the pair but worth every penny use them every weekend and they make a great work platform.:drink:

 

[woody]

I looked at a youtube video a couple days ago I found interesting on saw horses.

 

[Richard]

I'd love to have your horses! My wife is always working on projects (usually painting). Might be boards, might be shutters, might be dead bodies for all I know..... Many times, we have taken two saw horses, set them maybe 10 feet apart, put two boards across them and use THAT as a 10' wide saw horse so she can lay things out as she wants.

 

[s219]

I"d say 3' is a good size for a general purpose saw horse. Folding up is a bonus. Put an additional sacrificial piece of wood on the top that you can easily replace after it gets scored up from cutting.

 

[Egon]

You make them to dimensions and styles that serve your purpose. A sacrificial top cross board is nice to have.



A three leg saw horse made to hold a worktop.

 

[pokey1416]

I use EBCO steel saw horses. You can put wood on the top, holds lots of weight and folds up.....but watch the pinching of the fingers. They go on sale for around $11 every year at any of the big box stores.

Model SS-29

 

[fried1765]

I'd love to have your horses! My wife is always working on projects (usually painting). Might be boards, might be shutters, might be dead bodies for all I know..... Many times, we have taken two saw horses, set them maybe 10 feet apart, put two boards across them and use THAT as a 10' wide saw horse so she can lay things out as she wants.

I have 8 sets of 10' long saw horses.
Two sets of legs, and a 10' x 1" top board (on edge)
The slip together, and knock down for storage.
They are perfect for painting projects.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Speaking of circular saws, not sure of what kind you have, but try / get one with the blade on the left side if you are right handed. If you notice, most of the professional worm drive saws, the blade is on the left. Once you get a left sided blade, you practically cannot use a regular saw!

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/t...ITtiaC6PaDFtV98V5XQ7GevFnC3-oaHYaAjKkEALw_wcB

 

[tallyho8]

Speaking of circular saws, not sure of what kind you have, but try / get one with the blade on the left side if you are right handed. If you notice, most of the professional worm drive saws, the blade is on the left. Once you get a left sided blade, you practically cannot use a regular saw!

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/t...ITtiaC6PaDFtV98V5XQ7GevFnC3-oaHYaAjKkEALw_wcB

Note that in the photo they show a left handed person using it.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Note that in the photo they show a left handed person using it.

That is the strange part. I was just completing a project with my son, we are both right handed. We had to rip / cut a bunch of plywood. He had his saw out, ready to go.... but, it was the typical right sided blade.

I told him I would be right back and got my left bladed saw. After he used it on a couple cuts, he was amazed by how much easier it was to cut on the line! He said the other normal saw was “ stupid “ , he said it was much more difficult to use. He said it would be perfect for left handed people (makes sense). He got a left bladed saw the next week.

 

[EddieWalker]

For me, I have both plastic folding sawhorses that I like to take to jobs. I have an 8 foot bed on my truck, and space is always limited, so being able to fold and allow me to stack other stuff on them is more important then size.

The main reason that I use saw horses is for ripping plywood when I don't want to get my table saw out, or bring it to a job. the only other time that I use saw horses is to create a work table or platform. I recently refinished a 90 year old table and I set my extension ladder on the saw horses, and then clamped a 2x8 to the ladder with some screws so I could stand the legs of the table into each screw. I also put the table on the ladder so it was at an easy to work height.

When ripping plywood, I set my blade so it's just below the thickness of the plywood and then I cut right through the top of the saw horse. My folding plastic saw horses last a couple of years, then I get new ones. I also have wood saw horses that I built from scrap that are 3 feet wide and about 3 feet tall. They are more heavy duty and take up more space in my truck, so they usually only get used at home.

For cutting lumber, my chop saw is my first choice, but on a lot of jobs, I don't want to haul it around with me. Especially if I'm cutting just a few 2x's. Chop saw is for trim work, or bigger projects when I'm using it a lot. For that, I put it on my tailgate and use rollers on either side to support the material. The rollers extend up and down so it doesn't matter where I'm parked, I can quickly adjust them to the height of my chop saw, or the height of my tailgate if I'm using my cordless saw. I use my rollers a lot more then I use my saw horses.

 

[/pine]

We usually made donkeys (saw horses) using three studs cut in half...two of them make 4 legs the other two pieces get nailed together like a "T" for the top...the leg angle is automatic when nailed to the "T"... scrap plywood gussets on the ends...lower cross pieces can be added for a step if the donkeys are being used to hold a walk plank etc...

Hate the plastic horses because they push over too easy...especially when you try to slide a stick of lumber across the top...

A handy saw hanger can be made by simply driving a common framing nail on one of the legs leaving about 3/8"... hang a circular saw by top edge of the guard on the head of the nail...

 

[cqaigy2]

If you use your trailer as a platform to cut a sheet of plywood on, be sure you don't saw into the fender. Those thin curf carbide blades will slice right into them. A friend told me.... So any saw horse is better then no saw horse.

 

[CADplans]

be sure you don't saw into the fender. Those thin curf carbide blades will slice right into them.

A friend told me....

So any saw horse is better then no saw horse.

Right,, "A friend told me." ,,
Is that like,, "a little bird told me" ,, or " Don't ask me how I know!! ",,

Now , you gotta show us pics of your trailer,, so we can see that the fenders are intact,, ...



:confused2:

:laughing::thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

Note that in the photo they show a left handed person using it.

And one of his fingertips was missing...


just kidding.