Tuesday, August 6, 2013

BUILDING SAWHORSES

Skipper butterfly (European?) on Self-Heal.


Yesterday, before afternoon showers drove me inside, I worked on building a pair of good, heavy-duty sawhorses because the commercial ones I bought a few years ago are rickety and useless—in fact, dangerous. 

Power tool safety and accurate workmanship demands solid support. My father, master finish carpenter and artistic woodworker, would have agreed heartily. So would my grandfather Williams—more of a "country carpenter" than Dad, but still highly skilled and capable of crafting anything he needed, from an axe handle to house.

My do-it-yourself sawhorse design required lots measuring and figuring, due to their complicated angles and my desire to end up at the right overall height for ease of working. Then sawing to a pattern so legs and braces matched. What Dad or Grandpa would have knocked out in an hour took me several because I have nowhere near their expertise. 

I need the sawhorses because I've bought a truckload of materials and intend to build several outdoor tables, a grilling counter and work bar, two or three benches, maybe even a chair or two. For starters. Then, providing my confidence level is unshaken and I pass an honest self-evaluation of my capabilities, there are additional building plans beyond outdoor furniture—which may or may not come to fruition this summer. Available time, fickle weather, and the state of my aging carcass will all have their say on that matter. Not to mention finances. 

But regardless of how that works out, first things first…I need sawhorses.   

8 comments:

Jenn Jilks said...

I am using my late father's metal garbage cans! The old stuff is still good.
Cheers from Cottage Country!

Gail said...

HI GRIZZ - beautiful picture. I love purple and the details are exquisite.
My Dad wouldlove that you are making your own saw horses. He did the same. They were sturdy and just the right height. And over the years every color of paint & stain he ever used found its way to one side or the other. He, like you, was a real "man's man", in the best possible of ways.
Love Gail
peace.....

The Weaver of Grass said...

At least you are starting at the beginning Grizz - good luck with the project.

Grizz………… said...

Jennifer A. Jilks…

Until a few years ago, when they got damaged, I relied on a pair of sawhorses my grandfather built decades before I was born—and they were still fine. I wish I had them now. The old stuff is good indeed!

Grizz………… said...

Gail…

I've known sawhorses like that all my life—sturdy, well-used, honest, made to do a job, and on which you can read their life's history. Sawhorses like that would fit with the father you've often described—a man's man who loved life and earned his way.

Grizz………… said...

Weaver…

First the idea, the vision, the need…then the tools and materials…and in due time and work, the finished thing itself. I'll take all the luck I can get, too.

Gail said...

GRIZZ - you spoke his truth. And if you could see his wooden step ladder! It too tells it all!
LOve to you
Gail
peace......

Grizz………… said...

Gail…

A straightforward man. No doubt I'd have liked your father.