Sawed off
From Pixels to Pencils Oct 10, 2014

Our first real project for carpentry class was making a sawhorse. It sounded simple enough as my instructor, George, threw in a few “suggestions”. Being a by-the-book-kind-of gal and looking to learn, I took them as parameters.
The only real requirement was that it be 29 inches tall. In class, George based some measurements on a 12/3 triangle. He did the math for us on the board. Since I wanted a bit more practice, I redid the calculations for a 12/2 triangle. My leg angles would be at 9.5 degrees and I also figured out the rest of the measurements.
Besides learning compound miter cuts on the table saw, we were told to use a handsaw and chisel for the joints. Some of the other students seemed a bit irritated at the “old school” manual methods, but after I got into it, I absolutely loved it. After I learned how to correctly kerf with the handsaw (drag without pushing!) and how to sharpen a chisel, it was like shop therapy for me.
I finally got around to putting the last two cross-braces (after having one disappear) and call this project completed!