Japanese Sawhorses

Nice benches!

it’s amazing what you can get done while everyone else is “sawwing” logs. my best work is done well after the midnight hour as well

Sawhorses were my very first project, too. Great learning experience! Looks like you made a lifetime’s worth of Sturdy there. One suggestion: often people put a slim pad on the outer edges of flat base feet like that, as that makes it simpler to find a level standing on a shop floor. If yours sit flat and don’t rock, you’ve done an amazing job!

Oh, and Welcome to JLs!

-- http://barbsid.blogspot.com/

Fancy saw horses! If you saw mine you’d laugh for days.. haha Nice work!

nice saw horses.welcome to lumberjocks.

-- It don't have to be straight,it's just a suggestion!!!

Well crafted saw horses.

Congratulations, and welcome to the hobby.

-- dobiewon

Elegant saw horses. I made a similar pair from dimension construction lumber joined with screws. Nowhere near as nice as yours, but they have served me for almost 30 years. And I seldom trip over the saw horse feet any more!

-- JohnnyB - - Sometimes determination can substitute for skill.

Very nice ponies

-- Thor and Odin are the greatest of Gods.

Nice result.

I’m with you on the smell of tung oil. I tend to thin it down with white spirit and apply a few extra coats. When the white spirit evaporates it leaves less of a smell.

If you applied it ‘pure’ it might be a few good months before the smell dies down but on the brightside, the more I work with it the less the smell bothers me so you might like it eventually :-)

-- Charlie

Tung oil is a fantastic finish once it finally gets dry. Be prepared to wait what seems like ‘forever’ if you used pure tung oil, slightly less than forever if you used the polymerized version. but once it is dried it is an amazingly durable finish.

-- Stephen H -- If it ain't broke, it probalby still needs fixing....

very cool – good work!

My wife would love this project. She wants me to practice with hand tools.

-- Harold

I’m surprised that people find the smell of tung oil offensive. The stuff I’ve used has a pleasant nutty smell to it. I’d much rather smell it than the fumes from poly, or even the smell of boiled linseed oil. I finished several cutting boards in our dining room with it, and no one complained about the smell. I agree with Cygnwulf; it’s a great finish. All natural, waterproof, non-toxic. The only downside is for people with nut allergies. I wonder if there are different varieties that smell more/less/better worse?

On topic: Those are some sturdy-looking sawhorses. I like the non “A-frame” approach to them.

-- Robb

Robb, I think the tung oil that I have is actually the stuff they use for flooring. My wife found it on sale somewhere and just bought some for me. I didn’t even think twice about the “purpose” it was designed for … I just followed the directions and slapped it on.

My guess is it wasn’t pure tung oil .. and it has some other “stuff” with it.

I’ll probably try some other things like linseed oil and wax on my next non-painted project.

With a 4×6 sheet of plywood on top of these horses, I have a strong giant work surface. You can see it in one of my pictures from the radiator covers