The sawhorse is something that will always come in handy on the homestead. You could spend a day listing all their uses. Holding up rabbit hutches, drying herbs, and a convenient place to put a saddle. A simple DIY project that can be thrown together with scrap wood, a few nails, hammer and a saw. None of this is news to any of you and you’re probably wondering where this is going.
My husband is the master of sawhorses, a great collector, builder and hoarder of these useful pieces of construction. For 30 years he taught construction trades at a local vocational school. Each year this project was used to teach a very important lesson – measure twice, cut once. Consider that many of these students never worked with power tools, let alone a ruler. This project could be a total work of art or kindling.
Photo: Fotolia/Jeffrey Banke
Unfortunately not everyone saw the need to take their projects home. Their teacher, my husband, couldn’t imagine letting them go to waste. So every summer a new batch ends up in the back of his truck. Now you might think this is a good thing. But I have a barn filled with 30 years of unwanted, rejected sawhorses. And the challenge is finding a pair to match. You would be hard pressed to find two sawhorses out there that are the same length, width or even height. Even more difficult to convert some so they are usable. Adding one more nail could cause the whole thing to shatter. And of course there are others that just will not stand the test of time or weight of a crate of potatoes.
That doesn’t deter him from bringing home another year of rejections. Some do have personalities. Several have names scratched in with a screwdriver. Some have splats of paint or saw cuts that just do not make sense. There are my favorites, like a little guy with the wide top that works perfectly for washing windows or the one that is painted red and holds my garden tools. So all are put to good use and with a little modification. I have tried several times to adopt some off to friends. But I have learned that when trying to do this, go for the man in the family. To men sawhorses are like a plate of ribs, you can’t stop at one. If you ask the wife, she will quickly walk you to the garage, barn or shed to show you the little addiction that someone in her family has also. So you may have made a little room in the barn, but now you have to find a place for that used tractor tire.
Photo: Fotolia/onepony
