Lee Harps

I can hardly believe it either! It has been nearly TWO YEARS(!) since I’ve made any new blog entries here! Much has happened in those two years, and my resolution for 2009 is to share some of my activities with you. The reason for this entry (aside from its being EXTREMELY interesting subject material) is to permit me to once again learn how to use this communication vehicle. 

 

Tonight’s entry revolves around a structure I first built back in the early 90’s when it was described in Fine Woodworking magazine (Fine Woodworking, August 1992, No. 95, pp. 40-41, by Pat Paterson). It is one of the most well-designed and most useful sets of saw horses (the article calls them “saw ponies”) I’ve ever seen. I have built quite a few sets of them, some as gifts, and have most recently built myself another set. Here is the article and the accompanying diagram. These are built from short 2×4 cutoffs and plywood scraps – items usually available around every garage or workshop!

 

 

 

I’m hoping that anyone wishing to build a set of these will be able to discern the measurements from the article scans I’ve included. 

 

Here is a photo of my old, original worn set of sawhorses and the new set I’ve built in the last few days. Note how “stackable” they are, and in doing so, one can use them stacked to make the working height user friendly. With their solid, no-wobble construction and the splayed legs, these ponies stand solid! Unlike most saw horses, there is no movement whatsoever where these stand! They are wonderful to have around as standing stools to repair a ceiling fixture or do high painting, they make a great paint can stand, or legs for a temporary tool stand. I’ve used them for thousands of things!

 

 

You may notice that, while I have sized my sawhorses to the measurements of the diagram, I’ve made a few modifications that I am finding most helpful. I am just beginning the construction of a full set of kitchen cabinets for a house I’m rehabbing, and with my workshop being situated on the second floor of my garage, it is quite difficult for me to deal with full sheets of plywood (particularly the weighty sheets of 3/4 inch birch ply) upstairs, so I needed a means to safely and easily saw my sheets of plywood into more manageable sizes for this project. I recently read an article describing the use of stud hangers to suspend 2×4s between  regular, all 2×4 saw horses for this purpose, and in thinking about it, I decided to modify these “pony” horses to do the same thing. 

 

I have never used the hinged top for my saw horses, but have always made openings into the plywood sides for the purpose of utilizing that space to stash tools and the like.

 

On this set, I decided to create a notch in the plywood that would support a 2×4 suspended between 2 horses.

 

 

In the house I’m working on, I removed some original 2×4s which, amazingly enough (duh!) were actually 2 inches by 4 inches in size! They really did make lumber the size they said it was at one time!!! Anyway, to make a long story short, when I modified the set of sawhorses, I used “modern” 2×4s to size the notches.  I decided this would be a good opportunity to put the old “odd sized” 2×4s to good use. Great idea, but they would NOT fit into the notches I had made. Easy solution: a few moments at the band saw and, voila!, they fit!

 

 

How one chooses to lay out a frame for sawing purposes depends a lot upon how small pieces of plywood one is planning to cut in this manner. Mine will be rather large, so I made a simple frame of the old 2×4s thusly:

 

One could easily add more cross pieces were it indicated for the cutting one needed to do. At some point in the future, it may be necessary that I make this structure more complex.

Above, the frame is laying atop the double-stacked sawhorses, the ends not yet inserted into the notches. In the photo below, the ends of the 2×4s have been inserted into the notches, thus creating a very solid, flat surface for me to use to cut the plywood.

Below, you can see a full, 4′x8′ sheet of 3/4 inch birch ply leaned against the structure, waiting to be placed on top for cutting.

Here, the plywood sheet has been placed horizontally on the frame, ready to be cut. A nice feature of the stacked horses in this application is that it really creates a comfortable height for this job. I am no longer young enough to be comfortable doing a lot of bending over, so this height is ideal!

I have made plywood guides for my saw that I clamp in place for cutting. This guide is about 5 feet long for horizontal cuts; I also have an 8 foot guide for lengthwise cuts. Here is mwah making the first cut on this sheet of plywood.

Here is that same sheet of plywood, now cut into smaller pieces, all ready to be carried to the second floor workshop. Cutting plywood in this manner using a makeshift arrangement of unsecured 2×4s, etc. can be dangerous. With this frame, the “table” on which the cutting occurs fully supports the plywood and there is no pinching, bucking, etc. at all. I have admittedly made cuts on a less than ideal surface, and have fortunately NOT lost any digits or other body parts to date.

At day’s end, after having cut several plywood sheets, it is a simple matter to remove the frame from the notches, stack the saw ponies, sweep up the sawdust, and head for the recliner!

This is the recliner! More on that later….. Zzzzzzzzz