Alrighty y'all I need help

Dani

Dani

Well-known member
I need to make some saw horses. My dad has saw horse brackets that you make using 2x4s. I've got the wood cut for one set of saw horses, just need the brackets. I need to make several more saw horse sets as well and this is becoming aggravating.

The problem:

I've yet to find any brackets that will actually fit a 2x4. I've tried Ace, Lowes and Harbor Freight. All of them say on the packaging to use 1.5x3.5 boards (2x4s I know). The issue is is that the companies who made them (different brands and I can't remember which ones right this second other than a lowes set was Blue Haven I think....Blue something or another for sure) made the OUTSIDE dimensions of the brackets 1.5x3.5 and because of that and the thickness of the metal, short of doing a bunch of work to make the 2x4s skinnier and narrower than they already are (which I don't really want to do because I need to make multiple sets and you'd think it'd be a matter of just slip the bracket on over the piece of wood and voila in about two minutes you have saw horses) I can't get the things to slip over the wood like it's supposed to. I've tried pressure treated boards as well as non pressure treated, thinking maybe the pressure treated was just a little bigger. Nope not the case.

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo does anyone know what particular brand will actually fit over a 2x4 without me having to cut the 2x4 down to make it fit?

Thanks a lot in advance

Dani
 
Dani, I know you are looking for a quick easy answer here but, I'd say to run them thorough a table saw if they are to big. If you don't have one I'm sure someone close to you does. Isn't much work, and you can make them any size you want.
 
I got mine from Home Depot, not sure which brand. I will try to look if it stops raining.
 
If you are not dead set on making them out of wood check out ebco folding saw horses on amazon. They are sturdy and fold up making them easier to store. I have seen them in most of the big box home improvement stores .
They go on sale quite often.
 
If you are not dead set on making them out of wood check out ebco folding saw horses on amazon. They are sturdy and fold up making them easier to store. I have seen them in most of the big box home improvement stores .
They go on sale quite often.
Click to expand...

I have these and really like them
 
Dani, I also have been converted to the folding steel sawhorses. Probably not the answer you are looking for but they store so nicely and to quote a carpenter I worked with once" they will hold a whole house of lumber". Storage is my big issue but they are very strong too. What are you building that you need them? A boat????
 
How much weight will they be holding?
I bought some plastic folding ones from HD or Lowes that are OK for light duty and wont rot.
 
If you are not dead set on making them out of wood check out ebco folding saw horses on amazon. They are sturdy and fold up making them easier to store. I have seen them in most of the big box home improvement stores .
They go on sale quite often.
Click to expand...

I have these as well. Very nice. I put a 2" X 4" on top so that when I am sawing something, I don't have to worry about what the blade could hit.

Mark W
 
Thanks y'all. I wanted the brackets because I already have the lumber leftover from another project I was working on, so didn't need to go buy more wood.

I'm using the sawhorses to hold different boats back behind the garage. I have one trailer for hauling boats around on and then I want to have the boats stored upside down so they don't collect water when they rain. But I don't want them on the ground. Storage won't be an issue since they'll stay outside. I'd love another building back there but that's not in the cards budget-wise. So, I'm going the cheap route and just putting them upside down on saw horses (aluminum boats so not worried about rot).
 
http://www.lowes.com/pd_128355-31596-60504_1z11pdk__?productId=3122091&pl=1

Dani, are these what you are working with?

I had an older set some years ago -20- and they fit fine. Now days with being made overseas they QA/QC is poor. However, if yours are like those in the link you just need to spread the pocket out some and they should slip over the ends of your boards.

If not then take your skill saw and zip a blade wide cut down each side of the end that will fit in the pocket. You don't need to trim the whole edge of the foot board.

And for your intended use, you don't need these if you have enough lumber.
Build your cross piece like a T using pre drilled holes and long deck screws. Turn that piece upside down and then screw your legs into the body of the T and the top cross piece of the T. It will hold a few hundred pounds or a canoe or kayak just fine. To prevent the legs from spreading out over time screw a short piece of lumber across the sides of the legs. I have made these out of scrap lumber dozens of times over the decades.
 
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