Trestle-style Saw Horses

"Sturdy, space-saving shop assistants"

- By Chad McClung

A lot of shop accessories have to do with holding work-pieces by either securing them or simply supporting them. Sawhorses fit the latter category, providing a great solution for setting up a temporary bench or portable staging during milling and other operations. My rickety commercial sawhorses and shop-made A-frame versions lefta lot to be desired. I needed something stout but with a small footprint, and the strong, sleek models shown here fit the bill nicely.

Their design features durable joinery and solid construction that’ll withstand a lifetime of hard work. Plus, the top beam can be easily replaced if you happen to saw into it one too many times. You can spread the horses out for long work or nestle them together to support shorter stuff. And when the job is done, they compact together against a wall until next time.

In addition to yielding a pair of capable, enduring shop assistants, this project offers a great way to practice clever joinery techniques such as stop-guided notching, drawbore mortise-and-tenon joints, and wedged through tenons.

Order of Work

• Rout mortises

• Saw tenons and notches

• Cut out feet

• Make wedges and pins

• Assemble