Hello All,

I am a new member who has always enjoyed the concept of timber frames and their strength and beauty, so I am going to start on some timber frame projects.

I want to start by building some sawhorses as I have seen that is what some schools do and they will be needed for the future.

I have seen some pictures of various sawhorses, but would appreciate any details, plans, dimensions you may wish to share with me before I start building mine. For instance, I was going to make them 30 inches tall, however someone suggested that perhaps 24 inches was better?

Any help, suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Tom

here is a sketch based on a couple of sets of well used sawhorses around here. I would not go higher than 24",21 or 22 might be better, these horses are 7ft long.
The mortise and tenon could be 1.5 or 2in, depending on your tools.

here's a set I built based on Mark's plan. It was a great way of keeping the TF juices flowing after his workshop

This topic has also recently come up again on the forestryforum.com side in the timberframe/log building forum. If you go there you can see some other options too.
http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,34541.0.html
I built Timber Ponies instead of saw horses. Smaller, lighter, easier to move, made from dimentional lumber and plywood, and store easier. Both ponies and saw horses have their benefits though. Check out some of the designs. Jim even included PDF dimentioned drawings of his design. Horses can be good practice for the novice as a first project.

Thanks for the assistance. I will start to design my "Clydesdales". For cutting 6x6, 6x8's, do most people get a BIG circular saw like the Makita or use a regular circular saw and cut from both sides? I also own a 12" Dewalt Miter Saw that will cut up to 14" at right angles to the fence guide, seems like enough height, perhaps will give that a try.

Thanks Again, lots of good advice on this Forum

Tom,
I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but try a nice sharp 26" (at least) hand saw. What better place to practice than on a saw horse! saw only to the lines you can see. With a little practice the end result will be just as square and your ears will appreciate it.
If you put the reference face and edge on the square planes of the miter saw you can’t see where you are cutting. Check the prices on those large diameter circular saws, for the three minutes it takes to cross cut an 8" x 8" timber I'll pick up the hand saw any day.

Now before I get burned for those comments I’m sure the big saws have their place in a production shop and it takes a very skilled craftsman to use them without scraping a very expensive stick in a hurry.
kfhines

Thanks kfhines,

I was going to mention hand sawing, but I guess since I have such poor hand saws, thought power; I will look into a better hand saw, any suggestions.

The big Makita is $800 CDN; I have better uses for that much coin as I am not a big production shop by any means.

Appreciate your comments,

Tom

Hi Karl,

A lot of people forget to take into account the investmant of time (and hence money) made to turn a really big and complicated timber into a finished component and hence I agree whole heartedly with you that some of these components justify the closest attention to detail that will come only by employing hand tools in an effort to ensure the accuracy of the finished piece.

Regards

Ken Hume

Here is a link to some handsaw talk here on the forum. There is a bunch more with different slants. I still like my jack stand idea for ponies.

http://www.tfguild.org/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=16891&an=&page=

Tim

When cutting a drop off on a timber, We'd circ saw from both sides about 1/16 to 1/32 from the score line if possible and then use a chisel to square and remove the remainder. I haven't hand sawn much so I'm going to read that thread noted above. I want to see what kind of hand saws these guys are using and whether it makes sense for pine/fir or for hardwood too?