Building a Sawhorse Is Ticket to Ride Tall in the Workshop

Sawhorses, a valuable addition to any workshop, come ready-made, or you can make them with 2-by-4s and bracket kits available at hardware stores. Hook-on hardware bins and tool hangers are also available.

Here’s how to quickly assemble and disassemble sawhorses made with standard metal sawhorse brackets and 2-by-4s. Screw the brackets to the legs, but not to the top rail. On each pair of legs, hinge a brace on one leg and cut a slot for it on the other leg. When you force the brace between the legs, the bracket bites into the top rail and forms a sturdy sawhorse. When you release the brace, the top rail lifts out and the legs fold for compact storage.

Besides metal brackets, heavy-duty plastic sawhorse brackets will hold 2-by-4 pieces together. And you can take the sawhorses apart by simply loosening a couple of bolts.

Other sawhorse tips:

* You can add a tool tray between the legs of a regular non-folding sawhorse. Make a shallow box--a 1-by-4 frame with a plywood bottom--and attach it to cross braces running between each pair of legs. Mount a tray on just one sawhorse so a pair will stack.

* The scraggy, saw-chewed top rails of most sawhorses can scratch finished wood or furniture. To provide a non-marring surface, cover a foot or two at one end of the top rails with scrap carpeting.

* Even better, make a cap for each sawhorse, using two 1-by-3s for the sides and a 1-by-4 for the top. Use nails or screws to fasten the top to the sides. Cut notches in the sides to fit over the sawhorse legs. Cover the top piece with carpeting and tack the carpeting to the sides (not the top). You now have caps that you can slip on the sawhorses whenever you need them to protect work pieces.

To simplify taking measurements, nail, screw or glue an old steel tape-measure blade to the side of your sawhorse’s top rail. You’ll find it invaluable for the ease of measuring every time you need to make a cut. Don’t use a wooden yardstick; most aren’t accurate enough.

To hold your work in place on sawhorses, drill a series of holes along each top rail. Put nails or wooden pegs in the holes. Measuring from a hole near the rail’s center, make the distance to each hole correspond to actual-size lumber dimension: 1 1/2, 2 1/2, 3 1/2, 4 1/2, 5 1/2, 7 1/4, 9 1/4 and 11 1/4 inches.