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The more projects I make, the more I realize that my rickety old sawhorses are inadequate. I think that I am limited by the strength and sturdiness of these sawhorses and I feel like I am always compensating for them. Because these sawhorses are so unstable, I set out to make the most ideal and functional replacements I could.
Ideally, my new sawhorses would be extremely sturdy and collapsible. That way I could take it anywhere and easily put them out of the way in my small workshop. I have a reprint of a woodworking book from the 70's that showed a couple different designs for sawhorses. The one that interested me most was a 3 legged design that touted its sturdiness on uneven ground. My backyard is very uneven and I often have trouble setting up tables or my sawhorses. I reposition them again and again until they stop wobbling.
Unfortunately, the book only had a rough drawing of a 3-legged sawhorse. I looked around the internet but I didn't find any plans for a 3 legged sawhorse, so I had to design my own. I decided I wanted to make my design include knock-down legs, so they could be taken off for storage or transport. I used the following links as guides for the standard parts and adapted a traditional knock-down design to suit my needs.
Knock down Sawhorses
The Richard
Standard Knock-Down Sawhorse
Other designs
39 Free Sawhorse Plans
Update:
3 Legged Sawbench Design
Ideally, my new sawhorses would be extremely sturdy and collapsible. That way I could take it anywhere and easily put them out of the way in my small workshop. I have a reprint of a woodworking book from the 70's that showed a couple different designs for sawhorses. The one that interested me most was a 3 legged design that touted its sturdiness on uneven ground. My backyard is very uneven and I often have trouble setting up tables or my sawhorses. I reposition them again and again until they stop wobbling.
Unfortunately, the book only had a rough drawing of a 3-legged sawhorse. I looked around the internet but I didn't find any plans for a 3 legged sawhorse, so I had to design my own. I decided I wanted to make my design include knock-down legs, so they could be taken off for storage or transport. I used the following links as guides for the standard parts and adapted a traditional knock-down design to suit my needs.
Knock down Sawhorses
The Richard
Standard Knock-Down Sawhorse
Other designs
39 Free Sawhorse Plans
Update:
3 Legged Sawbench Design
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Most sawhorses have the legs set out at 15º for stability. I decided to make the A-Frame legs splayed out 15º, and make that frame and the mono-leg splayed out 15º from each other. The idea was to make this as stable as it could be while still being a 3 legged sawhorse.
To get the length of the legs, you can use these equations or you can just use this calculator. I knew I wanted to make the sawhorse 30" tall, and I knew all 3 angles of the triangles (90º + 15º + 75º = 180º). For the single leg, I ran it through the calculator once and got a leg length of 31.05829"(31 1/16"). For the 2 legged end, I used that result and solved for the hypotenuse again which gave me 32.15391" (32 3/16). This number gives me the length of the compound mitered legs.
For a detailed blueprint, open the attached PDF.
To get the length of the legs, you can use these equations or you can just use this calculator. I knew I wanted to make the sawhorse 30" tall, and I knew all 3 angles of the triangles (90º + 15º + 75º = 180º). For the single leg, I ran it through the calculator once and got a leg length of 31.05829"(31 1/16"). For the 2 legged end, I used that result and solved for the hypotenuse again which gave me 32.15391" (32 3/16). This number gives me the length of the compound mitered legs.
For a detailed blueprint, open the attached PDF.
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You got my vote...
Trade...
Thanks for the kind comments!
For stacking them could you not switch them end for end so that the single leg falls between the double legs?