: Here's some basic plans for building your own sawhorses. Each
: sawhorse uses 2 to 3 2x4s for legs, braces and the crossbeam.

: This works out to about $14 for a pair of sawhorses, at January,
: 2010 prices for 2x4s and a pound of 12d or 16d nails. If you
: want to use 1x4 or 1x3 for some of the braces, go ahead, but
: check the prices before you buy the wood. Surprisingly,
: 8-foot-long 2x4s are frequently priced cheaper than 1x4s, and
: sometimes they are cheaper than 1x3s!

: If you are using an internal strongback then just make the legs.
: The strongback itself is the crossbeam.

: If you are using an external strongback, consider just making the
: sawhorse legs and bolting them directly to the strongback's
: beams. These legs can be uncomplicated, straight pieces of 2x4.
: If your external strongback is over 12"wide it will stand
: up fine on 4 legs--2 near each end. Add a few extra boards for
: braces so the thing doesn't wiggle, and you have turned the
: external strongback into a skeletal workbench.

: Long strongbacks will sag in the middle. That is the nature of
: materials. You can make the strongback from very strong and
: rigid materials so the sag is very slight, or you can make them
: from reasonable, inexpensive, materials, and add additional
: supports (extra legs) at 3' to 5' intervals along the length of
: the strongback. You can get 3 legs of about 32" length from
: a single 8-foot 2x4 for under $3. That makes it a lot cheaper to
: use (well supported) 2x4's for a strongback than to use other
: materials.

: The illustration assumes you are using a 2x4 strongback, but there
: are no numbers for it, as the same plans work for a home-made
: box beam, or a 2x6, 2x8, etc.

: Hope this helps.

: PGJ

Paul

Nice drawings. Is that Google Sketchup?

Kirk