Sawhorse as makeshift workbench for the balcony?
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Tagged: Newbie sawhorse
- This topic has 12 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 9 months ago by Debra J.
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21 May 2017 at 8:15 pm #312149
Hi there!
I am completly new to woodworking but I am itching to try some of the more easy projects. I don’t have a workbench (yet) and since the weather is getting nicer, I was wondering if I could start with a sawhorse as first project to use it as a makeshift workbench on the balcony for the next projects.I would modify the design by Mr. Sellers to make it a little bit higher, like a regular workbench and the crossbeam a little longer, like 1m/ 40″.
I know, that I am missing a lot of weight to make this suitable for planing, even for smaller pieces but I got the idea of padding one end of the crossbeam with cork to set it up against a wall, so the sawhorse cannot be pushed around.What would you think, would that be feasable or would the sawhorse become wobbly or somewhat instable with this height. I tried to sketch it and the legs kinda look a bit flimsy with this height.
- This topic was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by Pepper Pot.
- This topic was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by Pepper Pot.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.21 May 2017 at 10:03 pm #312154It definetly is feasable however you need to adjust your measurements, as it is now the Sawhorses alone would be ~95cm tall add to that a thick sheet of Plywood for a Benchtop and you’re almost up to 1 meter, that is simply way too tall unless you yourself are very tall. When i first started out i used that height of Bench but planing or Sawing at that height felt very awkward.
The old saying goes if you stand by your Bench, letting your arms casually hang down, the Benchtop should be at wrist level. Same thing my Masters and books are saying.
So by that if we account for lets say 30-40mm Plywood or the like for a benchtop the Sawhorses should be your Wrist level minus the thickness of whatever you plan on using for a Top.
At work my Bench is ~90cm tall while my Bench at home sits at ~85cm (Wrist level), and i gotta say generally for most tasks but especially for planing i much prefer the lower, wrist height, Bench. It just seems more natural to me, due to my height and maybe a bit of personal preference.As for the Legs they are probably fine but if you want to you can always just buy bigger stock something like 5x8cm or 7x7cm wouldnt get something much thicker then that or the Sawhorses will get unnecessarily heavy and cumbersome other then that you should probably be fine.
Regards Philipp
26 May 2017 at 5:01 pm #312356Hahahaha,
oh my god, I am soo bad at this 🙂I’ve started with that sawhorse as my first woodworking project ever, nothing fits as it should, the joints are a little bit loose, everything is a little bit warped, but thanks to screws and glue, I have something that resembles a sawhorse. The gussets are still missing and the legs need to be cut to size, but it is surprisingly sturdy.
Nevertheless I had lots of fun so far and I cannot stop laughing about this feeble attempt. Getting down all the math and measurement and knowing what to do in theory, is quite something different than actually doing it.
🙂Things I have learned so far:
– I need way more practice!
– I need to learn how to properly plane with that wooden plane i’ve got.
– I need to learn how to properly sharpen chisels and that plane-blade.
– I am not fond of that roughcut cheap spruce wood from the typical DIY-markets. Way too many knots.
– Planing and sawing require different and unused muscles than being an IT admin. I am little bit stiff and sore.
– I am not as bad at sawing close to a line as I thought I would be!- This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Pepper Pot.
- This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Pepper Pot.
26 May 2017 at 8:33 pm #312361Prepare to Fail, thats how it goes, you will fail alot more but hey thats all part of it.
As a Hobbyist you have the luxury to take your time and go at your own pace, you also can do Pauls method with cutting to the line and pairing down the rest with the chisel to the knifewall which works great unless you are on a schedule haha.As for wood yes DIY stuff isnt great, infact its pretty shitty most times just not meant for quality furniture, just look around for Sawmills or proper supliers, the right kinda wood makes starting out a hell of alot easier then having to work with tons of knots, sapwood etc.
Well i hope things go nicely, Regards Philipp
I agree with Philipp J, especially about looking for sawmills or proper lumber suppliers. I assumed that the huge home centers would be the cheapest for lumber, and perhaps for 2x4s they are, but if you want pine boards, walnut, poplar, then I found out that they are vastly more expensive than my local lumberyard.
My local Home Depot charges by the linear foot, not the board foot, and their thickest stock is 3/4″. Surfaced 4 sides, sure, but even that needs to be planed to be suitable for furniture, and so you’re down to 65/100 or 7/10 ths of an inch by the time you’re fully flat, square and parallel. Not thick enough for many applications. Also, for their “common” grade of pine boards they get between 2 and 6 dollars per board foot, knots and all. Then I generally have to glue them up into panels (because the widest stock my Home Depot sells is 11.75″), which costs me time and materials, plus I lose more thickness because very few glue-ups remain perfectly flat.
I can get clear, 15″-18″ wide, 5/4 poplar at my local lumberyard for about $2.83 per board foot, and it’s also been surfaced on 4 sides. For me as a hobbyist, there’s no comparison in terms of value. Skip gluing up panels, skip the knots and I have a full 1″+ in thickness hardwood to use when I’m done planing, instead of some starvation-skinny softwood panels. And just like Home Depot, they’ll give you a couple of free cuts on their panel or radial arm saws so you can fit the lumber in your car.
Other hardwoods are similar. My Home Depot gets between $5.55 and $9 bucks per linear foot of 3/4″ hardwoods, and some hardwoods they have nothing wider than 5.5″! The lumberyard is about half that price for 4/4 stock in hardwoods, except their price is in board feet, so it’s an ever greater savings, and they have everything up to about 8″ in width, and almost everything up to 12″, and some few woods up to 18″ wide. And let’s not even get into the availability of things like quartersawn and rift-sawn woods…Home Depot stocks nothing of the sort, whereas my lumberyard has at least a few species of each.
Love me some Home Depot for many things, but for lumber, my experience has suggested that you’ll save a lot of time, money and hassle by going to a quality lumberyard, so check it out for yourself. You can probably call your local lumberyard on the phone and get board-foot prices for various species, so you don’t even have to risk the time and gas to drive over.
28 May 2017 at 10:50 am #312378Thank you, Philip and Ed, for your advice. I will try to find a better source for wood.
The sawhorse/ balcony bench-thingy is slowly coming along.
I cut the legs to length and fixed the gusset to the legs.
Here is a picture about what it is supposed to look like. The top plank is not fixed yet, and beam below it is still warped. I need to get a plane I could use properly as a newbie. Adjusting this wooden plane is quite tricky for me. I am sure, i will get better with practice in the future, but for now it is not that easy.
The end, that is supposed to rest against the wall, will be padded with cork, so I will not damage the wall/ plaster.
The plan is to work along the lengthy side, with pressure to the wall/ padded end. This way it is rock solid and not moving anywhere.
I should be able to mimic a vise with a piece of wood and some clamps.- This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Pepper Pot.
28 May 2017 at 9:30 pm #312399Another thing you can do is get one or two of those rubber mats they use under washing machines, i have yet to test them myself but theory is that it not only helps with with keeping the sawhorses or bench in place but its gonna save your tools and workpieces if one goes flying into a direction it shouldnt, mostly straight onto the concrete floor.
Fettling and setting up a wooden plane can indeed be a challenge but i found even after using a Stanley 4 1/2 extensively theres just something about a nicely setup wooden plane.
A trick i used and still use is if you have something off an odd thickness to plane or in yourcase for any planing needs is to clamp a wooden board, strip or anything really thats lower then the finished thickness of whatever you’re planing, to the tabletop or even directly onto the sawhorse and use that as a Stop to plane against.
If not otherwise possible just screw or nail it down or heck even just use the screws or nails as a stop (make sure they are strong enough to withstand that), just makes things far less awkward then whe you put your piece against a wall or something and try to plane into that.31 May 2017 at 11:01 am #312445Great, now this forum “ate” two of my replies so far…..
On to the third attempt.31 May 2017 at 11:13 am #312446The saw horse-bench is progressing with some changes and adjustments.
I took off the angled corner of two of the legs, so i can prop the legs against a barrier and stop the “bench” from moving. That way I can stay clear of walls at benchtop height, if I want to.
I’ve shortened one end of the beam below the “benchtop”, so I can use clamps at that “working” end:
The “benchtop” was fixed to the beam with glue and four screw, which I set 15 mm below the surface and closed the holes with dowels:
I am thinking about drilling some more holes through the “benchtop” and use dowels as bench dogs. I am just no sure, if a) 10mm dowels will be thick enough and b) the spruce “benchtop” is too soft to stand the pressure without fraying.
Do you have any idea what I could use as some kind of finish or protection? Boiled linseed oil or polyurethan? On the balcony, the “bench” is still exposed to humidity and temperature changes, while mostly being protected from the rain.
- This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Pepper Pot.
- This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Pepper Pot.
3 June 2017 at 9:44 am #312532I’ve “finished” the “saw-bench” to put it to test and check, what adjustments or changes I would need to make.
So I’ve started with some smaller projects suited for beginners.
The first one was a dovetail template, that I would need for some future projects to come. Made from beech, which was actually a lot harder than I expected.
This is going to be a benchhook, made from cheap roughsawn spruce.
The “saw-bench” could be a bit higher, right now it reaches 85cm, roughly 33,5″, but this way I can stow it away in a certain spot. A proper bench for me would need to be higher.
3 June 2017 at 11:52 am #312551Looks pretty nice, traditionally as a finish its just linseed oil. I guess the reason is that its easy to apply and since you are working on a benchtop you are gonna get some oils, solvents, scratches, dings, dents and whatever else on it so it doesnt make too much sense to really apply a nice finish.
Beech is very hard however not necessarily the best choice for templates or jigs, reason being the wood loves to move, twist and warp. Thats why almost all beech is steamed to reduce the movement, im not sure it really matters on something as small as a dovetail template however its something to keep in mind.
12 June 2017 at 3:28 pm #312444Hmm, it Looks like I’ve deleted my latest post while editing it.
The sawhorse-/ bench-thingy is progressing and I’ve made some adjustments and changes.
I took off the angle two of the legs, so I can prop the legs against some kind of barrier, just in case I would not want to prop the benchtop against the wall. That way, depending on the barrier, I could stay clear of the wall.
I’ve shorted one end of the beam, so I could use clamps here properly.
“Wall”-end, supposed to be padded:
http://up.picr.de/29353223dy.jpg
“Working”-end:
http://up.picr.de/29353225be.jpg
The plank was fixed to the beam as benchtop with glue and four screws. I’ve set the screws about 15mm below the Surface and closed the holes with a dowel.
Right now, I am thinking about Drilling some more holes into the benchtop and use dowels as bench dogs. I am just not sure, if 10mm dowels will be thick enough and the spruce benchtop will stand that without too much fraying.
I am going to use a wooden clamp as a vise:
http://up.picr.de/29353227av.jpg
When the glue is dried, I will start with the cork padding. I am also thinking about putting cork below the feet, to reduce noise and vibrations. This way, I might be able to use that bench inside of the apartment without anoying the neighbours so much.
A good source for small amount of cork is Ikea. The coasters for pots “HEAT” is roughly 10mm thick. The sets “AVSKILD” are thinner and might possibly be used for padding clamps.
Do you have an idea what to use as finish or protection? Oil, varnish?
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