Watcha Makin'?

[Resonator]

Yup, at least a hundred different ways to build sawhorses. 
I've built them with a 2x4 laid flat on the top rail before. Also made them with the legs turned flat ways, so they nest together stacked up in the garage. I like this style as it's rugged enough to hold a good size whack of lumber right off the mill (I made them 5' wide). And the top rail only touches the fresh cut boards a little more than a sticker would.

[SwampDonkey]

I think they will do the job. 

However, I do like the old fashioned kind and have been meaning to build a set, but never seem to make the time. Here's the design.

[tule peak timber]

For the last couple of months, I have been working on a big slab flattener system that ties in with my existing layup table and something that solves the problem of power, air and me working alone in the shop. This is a 7-1/2' x 20' True table that is co-planer and coupled through a removable bridge to another 40' table, giving me an overall good flat table surface of about 64'. The router system I chose answered the questions that no one who builds CNC machines could answer and as a matter of fact, neither could Caterpillar Diesel. This system is autonomous in the X and Y axes, slow, inexpensive and something I can work with. Oh yeah, did I mention, it is also very big!
In the next week or two, I will work out the power and air dust collection drags from the ceiling to make the thing a set, turn-on and walk away unit, so I am free to do other jobs in the shop. 

Worked out a few bugs with limit switches this weekend and some slight improvements on the manufacturer supplied equipment. I got the thing going today and it's like a little robot; up and down and back and forth, and when it is done, parks itself.

[Andries]

What a huge setup TPT.

Safe to say that you believe the slab market to remain strong for a long time?
Is that a Milwaukee router in the first photo?

[tule peak timber]

Yes, I wanted something that would flatten as large as I can cut. Besides flattening slabs, it's a major tool for counter top, bar top fabrication. 

As far as the slab market; my competitors are getting more than twice what I charge for a flattened, sanded slab. So, I need to get current. I've been collecting slabs for almost 20 years and I have literally acres of them. Supposedly, next week I have contracted for some of the biggest, certainly most expensive logs I have EVER purchased to come in for reduction to slabs. Let's hope the market stays strong!

How are my brook trout doing?

[Magicman]

I had an old carpenter tell me that when a new rookie apprentice showed up the first thing that they would have him do was build a couple of sawhorses.  They would immediately know if he was worth keeping or not.

[Resonator]

Yup, I've heard of woodworking classes where building a sawhorse is the beginner project to learn the basic skills.

[doc henderson]

Kenny Skeels is the guy that I built houses with, in high school.  He had moved to Colorado at one point, and they had union labor there.  He had to take a test and the standard height of a saw horse was one of the questions.  If they wanted you, you got it right.  If not, the answer was wrong.  the final answer he told me was 30 inches, ... if they wanted you.