19th century knowledge carpentry and woodworking saw horses

woodworking Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first mate ...

, a saw-horse or sawhorse (saw-buck, trestle, buck) is a trestle structure used to support a board or

plank Plank may refer to: * Plank (wood), flat, elongated, and rectangular timber with parallel faces * Plank (exercise), an isometric exercise for the abdominal muscles *Martins Creek (Kentucky), the location of Plank post office * ''The Plank'' (1967 f ...

for

saw A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material, very often wood, though sometimes metal or stone. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and mov ...

ing. A pair of sawhorses can support a plank, forming a

scaffold Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other man-made structures. Scaffolds are widely used ...

. In certain circles, it is also known as a '' mule'' and a short sawhorse is known as a pony. The names come from the shape of the frame, which resembles a

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

. A sawhorse may also be a rack for supporting logs for sawing, known in the US as a

sawbuck In woodworking, a sawbuck is a structure for holding wood so that it may be cut into pieces. Easily made in the field from rough material, it consists of an "X" form at each end which are joined by cross bars below the intersections of the X's. ...

. The sawhorse may be designed to fold for storage. A sawhorse with a wide top is particularly useful to support a board for sawing or as a field

workbench A workbench is a sturdy table at which manual work is done. They range from simple flat surfaces to very complex designs that may be considered tools in themselves. Workbenches vary in size from tiny jewellers benches to the huge benches used by ...

, and is more useful as a single, but also more difficult to store. A sawhorse can also be used as the base for a portable work table by placing a sheet of plywood or even a door across two sawhorses. If the sawhorses are strong enough, the portable table can be used as a platform for tools like a

table saw A table saw (also known as a sawbench or bench saw in England) is a woodworking tool, consisting of a circular saw blade, mounted on an arbor, that is driven by an electric motor (either directly, by belt, or by gears). The blade protrudes th ...

, although with caution if the top is not secured to the sawhorses. In boatmaking, the curved nature of the cross-beam, designed to support the timbers used for hulls led to the colloquial name of sea-horse, this term, derived from old Norse, entered the Northumbrian dialect, it is thought, through Norwegian settlers as early as the 14th century.

Related devices

* A

is the US term for a similar device for working with logs and branches. In the UK and Canada this is also called a sawhorse. * Barricades fitted with flashing lights and used to block excavations or

road construction A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

or other safety-related purposes. Formerly made of wood, now many have metal structural members or are made wholly of plastic or composite. ** The ''A-frame barricade'' or ''parade barricade'' resembles a sawhorse with a brightly painted top rail. ** The ''Type I (or II) barricade'' also known as a ''waffle-board barricade'' resembles a sawhorse that can be folded flat. Type I indicates sheeting on top; Type II has sheeting on top and botto

** The ''Type III barricade'' has multiple rails supported by two end posts with feet.

History

Modern sawhorses are usually made of Lumber#Dimensional lumber, dimensional lumber, but the basic form of the sawhorse has remained unchanged for centuries. For example, one of the illustrations in De Re Metallica (1556) contains a drawing of a millwright using a pair of sawhorses to support the beams he is forming. The top of each of these sawhorses appears to be made from a halved log, with legs mortised or dovetailed into place.Georgius Agricola, ''De Re Metallica'', Basel, 1556. Illustration appears o
page 285
of Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover
De Re Metallica
Dover Publications, New York, 1950.

Crowd control

A device for

crowd control Crowd control is a public security practice in which large crowds are managed in order to prevent the outbreak of crowd crushes, affray, fights involving drunk and disorderly people or riots. Crowd crushes in particular can cause many hundre ...

in the 20th century had the shape of a sawhorse made of wood. The legs are similar but rather heavy duty facsimiles of the hobby version of about the same height. The horizontal bar consists of a heavy-duty plank about long with printed on it in large letters: ''Police Line - Do Not Cross''. Many cities have chosen to replace this wooden barrier with the French barrier, which is a metal crowd control device.

References

External links

Sawhorse Building Plans on About.comFalcon Ladder Sawhorses
{{Hand tools Woodworking tools Workbenches Woodworking appliances

Related devices

History

Crowd control

See also

References

External links