How to Build a Quick and Easy Sawhorse

How to Build a Quick and Easy Sawhorse

by BRETT

A few months ago, Craftsman  flew me up to Chicago to visit their Craftsman Experience shop for a blogger summit. (If you’re ever in Chicago, I definitely recommend stopping by the Craftsman Experience and checking it out. It’s free and open to the public.) I spent the day playing with tools and learning how to build various projects under the tutelage of several DIY bloggers. One project that I really enjoyed and found pretty dang useful was from Timothy Dahl, owner of the DIY blog Charles and Hudson.

Timothy showed us how to make a simple, yet sturdy sawhorse that even a handyman noob like myself could build without screwing up too much.

Why Do I Want to Build a Sawhorse?

Good question. Sawhorses come in handy in a variety of situations. The first and most obvious situation where a sawhorse is useful is when you need to saw something. Duh. A sawhorse gives the board you’re sawing the support and elevation you need to make a clean cut.

A pair of sawhorses can also be used to make a makeshift work table or scaffold. Just use the two sawhorses as the legs, and place a sheet of plywood over it. When I worked as a painter one summer back in high school, my boss would use a pair of sawhorses and an old door he found on the side of the road to make his worktable. Makeshift tables from sawhorses particularly come in handy when you’re setting up for a garage sale.

Let’s see. Other reasons you should build a sawhorse… How about for a makeshift seesaw? Or what about using it as the fulcrum for a home defense catapult? Just spitballin’ here.

And while you can certainly buy ready-made sawhorses at your local big box hardware store, you miss out on the fun and satisfaction of building a piece of equipment that will serve you for years to come.

Materials

Here are the materials Tim recommends for his sawhorses. It’s enough to make a pair.

• Six 32½-inch 2x4s (for the I-beams)
• Eight 30-inch 2x4s (for the legs)
• Twelve 3-inch wood screws
• Thirty-two 16D galvanized nails

How to Build a Sawhorse

Building a sawhorse is super easy. It makes for a great starter project for the man who has never really worked with tools, but wants to become handier around the home.

Note: This is one way to build a sawhorse. I know there are plenty of other ways to do it. This plan is great for everyday use in a typical suburban garage. If you plan on using your sawhorses for heavy work, you might try another design.

1. Measure and Cut Your Timber

The 2x4s I bought came in lengths of sixteen feet, so I had to cut them down to the needed sizes. Here I am measuring and cutting 32½-inch pieces for the I-beams and 30-inch pieces for the legs. Remember to measure twice and cut once!

Here I am using a portable compound miter saw to cut the timber. You can use a hand-held circular saw or even an old-school handsaw.

Ready to be turned into a sawhorse

2. Build I-Beams

Take three of your 32½-inch 2x4s and screw them together in an "I" formation.

I found it helpful to drill a pilot hole before driving the screws in.

Drive three wood screws right down the middle on top and bottom of the I-beam. Place two of the screws near each end and drive the other one right in the middle of the I-beam.

Finished I-Beam

3. Nail the Legs to I-Beam

Butt the end of the 30" 2x4s into the top of the I-beam like so. Hammer two nails at the top of the leg so that they go into the middle I-beam piece.

Nail two more nails into your leg so that they go through the bottom I-beam piece.

If you've done things correctly, you should form a box pattern with your nails. Notice my hammer dings in the wood. I need to practice.

Repeat for each leg.

Completed Sawhorse

My finished sawhorse. Rinse, wash, and repeat to make your second sawhorse for a pair. To store these bad boys, just stack 'em.

How to Make a Nifty Shoe Shine Box

by BRETT

This post is sponsored by Bing. What’s this?

Here at the Art of Manliness, we’ve talked a few times about the manly ritual of a good shoe shine over the years. For awhile now, I’ve kept my own shoe shine supplies in a box I got for Christmas a few years back. It’s a pretty nice box, but I’ve always had an itch to make one with my own two hands. Then a few months ago I was looking through some old Popular Mechanicsmagazines, and a nifty shoe shine box design in an issue from 1950 caught my eye.

It’s a simple design. You’ve got a place to hold your brushes and polish cans and a place to rest your foot when shining your shoes. What makes this design so nifty is the two free-turning dowels placed inside the box. After you’ve given your shoes a good polishing, the dowels serve as rollers for your polish cloth for buffing your shoes to a mirror shine. Here it is in action:

This is an incredibly easy and inexpensive project. It only takes an hour to complete, but you’ll end up with a unique and sturdy little box that will last you a lifetime.

The Design

Here’s the modified Popular Mechanics design that I used to make my shoe shine box:

Click here for larger image.

Thanks to AoM reader Robert Heffern for providing this SolidWorks image. Click to enlarge.

Materials & Tools Needed

Materials

• (1) 3/4″ x 8″ x 8′ board (I used a cedar board I bought at Home Depot for $11. I was able to make two boxes out of one board. You can use whitewood for an even cheaper box.)
• (1) 5/8″ wooden dowel
• (18) #6 1-1/4″ wood screws

Tools

• Saw (I used my table saw. Miter saw works, too. Heck, you could even use a handsaw for this project.)
• Power drill
• Band saw or coping saw
• 11/16″ bore bit
• Compass
• Measuring tape

Measure and Cut Wood

Here’s the board that I’m going to cut my pieces from. It’s a 3/4″ x 8″ x 8′ board that I cut in half. While the width of the board is labeled 8″, its actual width is 7  1/4″.

I measured and marked all my cuts at once. I used the full width of the board (7 1/4″) for most of my pieces to make things easy.

Here are the measurements you’ll need:

• (1) 8  1/2″  x 7  1/4″ (this will be your bottom piece)
• (2) 5  5/8″ x 7  1/4″ (these will be your end pieces)
• (2) 3  1/2″ x 8  1/2″ (these will be your side pieces)
• (1) 2  3/4″ x 8 1/2″ (this will be your top)
• (2) 5/8″ x 7  7/8″ dowels

Cut your wood with your saw.

All the pieces for the box

Mark Arcs and Bore Holes

On the end pieces we will cut two arcs that are 2″ wide into the top corners. To mark the arcs, grab a compass and set the point and the pencil 2″ apart. Place the point in the corner and trace out your arc.

Mark where your bore holes will go for your dowels. They should be 1 15/16″ from the sides and 3 5/8″ from the bottom. Above you’ll see the marks and measurements for the arcs and bore holes.

Cut Arcs

I used my band saw to cut the arcs out.

Here are the two end pieces with the arcs cut out from the corners.

Bore Holes for Dowels

Time to bore the holes for the dowels. Get your 11/16″ wood bore bit.

You don’t want to bore all the way through the wood. Go about 3/8″ deep.

Screw Pieces Together (and Insert Dowels)

Now it’s time to screw all the pieces together. I recommend drilling pilot holes before screwing in the screws. Also, be careful not to use too much power with your drill lest you split the wood. Start by screwing the two end pieces to the bottom.

Three screws on each end of the bottom piece will do the trick.

The two end pieces screwed to the bottom piece.

Screw the two side pieces to the two end pieces. One screw in each corner.

I put my dowels in at this point. It took a bit of work to get them in their holes. I probably should have done this earlier, like when I was drilling the end pieces to the bottom piece.

Secure the foot rest on top with four screws in each corner. We’re pretty much done with this nifty shoe shine box. If you have some spots that look like they’re uneven, no worries. It’s nothing a little sanding can’t fix.

 Sand

Give the entire box a good sanding. Spend time on joints that look uneven. Feel free to stain it. I liked the unfinished look, so I decided to pass on the stain.

Enjoy Your Shoe Shine Box You Made With Your Own Hands