# What do you think of this super sawhorse from down under?



## Texchappy (Apr 27, 2012)

Looks like an interesting project and useful (at least from my inexperienced eye).

Whaddya think?
http://gregdmiller.blogspot.com/2009/10/saw-stool-on-steriods.html


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Interesting idea ,really is a mini bench.


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## Bob817 (Nov 17, 2011)

That is an Awsome idea!


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

NO WAY would I use that in the shop. I'd put it next to my chair in the house and just wax it every day. That ain't no workshop tool. That's furniture.
Great post.
Bill


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## Texchappy (Apr 27, 2012)

I'm still looking for a first project because I can't find the top of my 'general stuff' workbench in the basement. Was thinking this might help kill two birds with one stone.


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

I can easily see how this bench could be used in a lot of ways.

helluvawreck
https://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

I'd need to brace it on the lower end, there is no way you could plane on that without collapsing it.


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## waho6o9 (May 6, 2011)

I like it.


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## JulianLech (Jan 13, 2011)

Looks like a great workbench especially if you have a small shop. I agree with Bill; it looks too nice to use in the shop.


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## knotscott (Feb 27, 2009)

Nice!


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## Texchappy (Apr 27, 2012)

I think I'm going to try to combine this and Chris Swarz's traditional. My thinking is to start out with the traditional design with the appliance holes and any slight modifications if I wanted to add vises like his later.

What do you think?


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## Texchappy (Apr 27, 2012)

Kinda excited about this really. Two questions to help me on my way…

1. what wood choices - top and/or structure?
2. why does the traditional bench have that 'bird's mouth' on one end?


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## mtenterprises (Jan 10, 2011)

I too like this.
Bill White and Julian - Just think as furniture you could also use it for cracking nuts and crushing beer cans.
MIKE


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

That's a great looking sawhorse, but it doesn't look sturdy enough to do any planing. I have a pair of sawhorses that I made years age; see sketch. It is wide and they stack.


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## ShipWreck (Feb 16, 2008)

If that saw stool is stable, I think it would be great!


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Oh I think it's sturdy enough for planing but not long enough
and probably not heavy enough.

A lower stretcher might help a bit but imo it needs to be
either substantially weighted-down or substantially lengthened
to resist the forces of planing that lift the back of the bench 
off the ground and mess up the cut.

Maybe I'm wrong though. I usually use a bench stop when
planing, not dogs.


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## GregDMiller (May 10, 2012)

I can offer some thoughts about this piece, 'cause I am the proud owner. It was made to do serious woodwork on.

I made it specifically for use on site when I am doing repairs to joinery. It is heavy. Other than the 3 inch thick pine top, the rest of it is all made from jarrah, a heavy west australian hardwood. I have since added wheels on one end which contact the ground when you lift the other end. This makes it much easier to get it into my customers' backyards, around building sites, etc. Before that it was killing my back to lug it around.

Those splayed legs are housed into the top, so no stretcher is required down lower. It is solid as a rock, and the splay in the legs in all directions means it never tips up. I use mostly hand tools for the work that I do on it, and much of this work requires a high level of accuracy - so a wobbly bench won't do the job. I do a lot of hand planing on it, and due to its weight, it takes this well. I chop mortices on it, cut housings, use a shooting board on it, saw wood on a bench hook and in the vices, and more. It has lots of holding power and cramping options, as I use it to cut many complex joints. In addition to the two vices, the holes in the top take both bench dogs and holdfasts. I also cramp directing onto the bench with F-Cramps.

The top size is intentionally small, to aid portability, and I have since got around one of the disadvantages by making a removeable tool shelf which sits across the lower end rails. My main regret is I used an el-cheapo vice on the front rather than a good one. The current vice racks too much, but I get around that. One day I will replace it with a nice 9" good quality quick action vice.

I teach woodworking hand skills, and have found that this bench is ideal for doing demos of tool use when I am working with my groups. People can easily gather round it.

So as an experiment, it has worked really well for me. If I was needing a solid bench and had little space to keep it in, I would opt for something like this.

Meanwhile, when it is not out on a job somewhere, or standing up in the back of my ute between jobs, it lives on my front verandah! There it is a useful surface too. Every now and then it gets a coat of orange oil and comes up looking like a million dollars again. ...It's a beaudy!


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## Mosquito (Feb 15, 2012)

I like it, and having no shop of my own, I am thinking about making something similar… I have to constantly haul tools in and out of a basement through a patio door, and my "workbench" is a 4' folding table clamped to a 6×6 porch beam on one end. To plane an edge I use 2 Jorgensen parallel clamps on their sides, clamped to the table. It's not ideal, and I would have a hard time planing the face of any boards this way. I have been thinking about building a smaller portable or collapsible work bench for a little while now, and this may be the direction I go. Great work Greg!


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## Texchappy (Apr 27, 2012)

Thanks for checking in Greg. Enjoy your blog.


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