Saturday, February 13, 2010

Saw Bench

One of the "secrets" of fast hand sawing is having your work elevated at an optimal height. This may not seem like a big deal, but it really makes a difference. This is my saw bench I made out of construction lumber. The short bottom stretchers are drawbored, and the long stretchers are wedged through tenons. The legs slip into the top, and are pegged with 1/2" oak dowel. Note the artistic license I took by creating the two saw cuts on the left. The top has a 3/4" hole drilled for my gramercy holdfast. The hole is situated so that the pad falls on the top of the leg, which is the strongest part.

4 comments:

Bob Easton said...

Very nice! ... and over time, more artistic liberties will be acquired.

I get a kick out of seeing that every time Chris Schwarz shows one of his sawbenches, it looks brand new, while mine looks like it's been through years of misadventures, random saw attacks, and other artistic licenses.

thewoodshopbug said...

Thanks Bob, I thought about making some sort of patch, but then I remembered that it's a saw bench, not a garden bench.

Anonymous said...

So Old Man,

What are the dimensions? I have just taken an old saw horse, cut it down and beefed it up with 3/4" plywood between legs. I used the lengths Mr. Schwarz suggested and so far it is working well.

It also looks as if its been around a long while.

thewoodshopbug said...

The bench is 36" long, and 20" tall, and about 10" wide. The height is the real only essential part.