Furniture

Area-Saving Sawhorses – FineWoodworking

December 1, 2024 Our Editors 0 Comments

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Anyone who has frolicked in a store is aware of that sawhorses are a necessary piece of kit. At my store, we use sawhorses all day every single day for issues like storing lumber, holding boards within the milling course of, ending, staging components to enter the ending sales space, and elevating items to the next stage to work on them. The makes use of are limitless. And we don’t simply use horses within the store. We additionally take them with us on installations. There they maintain workpieces, function job-site workbenches with beams or plywood on prime, and way more.

Ridiculously easy to construct from easy-to-find supplies, these folding horses are moveable, streamlined, versatile, and sturdy.

Our sawhorse requirements are excessive. We want them to carry a variety of weight, not take up an excessive amount of house, and be gentle sufficient to maneuver across the store and tackle the highway. In addition they have to be straightforward to make and final a very long time. I don’t bear in mind the place I first got here throughout this sawhorse design, however it checks all of the required containers. The most effective factor about these horses is that they fold up and retailer out of the way in which on wall-mounted racks after we’re not utilizing them. I’ve been constructing and utilizing them now for about 20 years and have by no means had one fail. Constituted of strips of three/4-in. plywood and 3-in. hinges, they’re quick and straightforward to construct, and so they have a clear aesthetic.

The components

The components checklist for considered one of these horses is brief: The 2 similar sides every have two legs and two rails, and two quick braces hyperlink the edges. The edges are hinged on the prime, and the braces are hinged to the edges in addition to to one another.

Construct the edges

Apply glue on one leg, and place the highest rail on it, feeling that each items are flush with one another on each side of the nook the place they meet. As soon as the 2 items are completely in place, pin them in place.

Begin by ripping after which crosscutting strips of plywood to measurement. In case you’re beginning with a full sheet of plywood, you possibly can rip sufficient to make no less than two pairs of horses. You can also combine and match any plywood scraps you will have kicking round. I’ve by no means tried it, however I suppose you can additionally use strong wooden for those who needed. As soon as I’ve the components lower to measurement, I start to assemble the horses. They’re fast and straightforward to place collectively. I can have a pair able to go in lower than half an hour.

With one finish of the highest rail pinned, insert a spacer between the highest and backside rails. Then push the underside rail tight to the spacer. Make certain that the rail’s finish is flush with the surface fringe of the leg, after which pin the underside rail to the leg.

The important thing to placing them collectively is spacers. First, I glue and tack one finish of the highest rail to one of many legs, flushing up the corners. Then I bump a spacer in opposition to that rail and find the underside rail on the different finish of the spacer. I glue and tack one finish of the underside rail to the identical leg. Then I glue and tack the opposite ends of each rails to the second leg. As soon as the rails are tacked to each legs I screw them collectively, driving 4 countersunk screws at every connection. I repeat all these steps to construct the second facet of the sawhorse.

After you have glued and pinned each rails to each legs, countersink and screw the items collectively. Then repeat the entire course of to make the second facet of the horse.

Connect each braces to 1 facet

Use a spacer to find the brace hinge on the underside rail. Then use a ruler gauge to find the opposite leaf of the hinge on the brace. Carry these spacings from the identical reference facet over to all of the components, and every thing will line up properly.

Then use a ruler gauge to find the opposite leaf of the hinge on the brace. Carry these spacings from the identical reference facet over to all of the components, and every thing will line up properly.

If you connect the hinges, the spacing between the components ought to be the width of the hinge barrel.

Add the final hinge to the free finish of the second brace. As soon as the edges are hinged on the prime, this hinge will get hooked up to the underside rail on the second facet.

The hinged middle braces maintain the edges from splaying too far aside in use, and afterward they permit the edges to fold flat. The braces get three hinges, one between them and one on every finish to connect to the underside rail of every facet meeting. To find a hinge on the middle of the underside rail, I exploit one other spacer, this one referenced off the leg. I screw a hinge to the underside rail and fix the hinge’s different leaf to one of many braces. Then I hinge the opposite finish of that brace to the second brace and add the third hinge to the far finish of the second brace. I’ll quickly connect the second leaf of that final hinge to the opposite facet meeting, however for now it stays unfastened.

Be part of the edges

With each braces hooked up to 1 facet, the subsequent transfer is to affix the 2 sides to one another

Begin by screwing a hinge to the highest of every leg on one of many sides. Then lay each side finish to finish on a flat work floor and fix the opposite leaf of the hinge to the second facet of the sawhorse.

On a flat work floor, I screw two hinges to the highest rail of 1 facet. Then I line the 2 sides up finish to finish and screw the opposite leaf of every hinge to the second facet of the horse. As soon as the 2 sides are hinged on the prime, I end by attaching the free brace to the underside rail of the second facet.

Fold the edges collectively, after which use a scrap to prop them open so you will get the drill between them. Use the spacer once more to find the brace hinge, then drive your screws.

Lastly, I exploit a router to run a small roundover on the perimeters of the rails. It makes carrying the horse a bit extra light on the arms and makes it simpler to slip items onto the horse.