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.