Log sawhorse

For the third year in a row I am cutting and bucking my firewood with my trusty bow saw. Until now, however, I didn't have a trusty sawhorse. I know that sounds dumb but sometimes I'd rather deal with a not-so-good situation instead of taking the extra time and energy to have a good set-up; go figure. But after dealing with various precarious and frustrating set-ups for the last two years, this year I was motivated to do it right. So I made a nice sawhorse out of some of the logs I had collected for firewood.

The four crossing logs are 45 inches long and 3 inches in diameter and they cross at a 60 degree angle or so; the two horizontal supports are 35 inches long and 2 inches in diameter.

I'm 5'6" so it's most comfortable for me when the log I'm cutting rests on a support about 30 inches from the ground. So I set two of the main logs on the ground, crossing each other at the 60 degree angle so that the point of the V formed by the upper ends of the logs were 30 inches from what would be the ground. Then I marked where the logs crossed each other and I cut out a notch along these lines halfway through each log using a bow saw and a wood chisel. These notches ended up being between 29 and 32 inches from the bottom of each log. Of course, if you are of a different size you'll have to figure out what height works best for you. I put a couple of nails through each notch to add extra stability.

 The next consideration was how far apart the two Xs should be from each other. My wood stove takes pieces 16 inches long so I wanted to be able to make my next-to-last cut comfortably 32 inches from the end of the log. That meant the Xs should be about 30 inches apart measured from the outside of the logs. So I stood them up that far apart making sure they were vertical with a level and I placed the horizontal pieces across, making marks where the logs met so I could cut notches as above. I thought it was best to have those different cross-pieces at different heights from the ground, both for more stability and also because it gives me an option for where to put my foot if I need to provide more stability to the sawhorse during a cut. So one of the horizontals was about 8 inches from the ground and the other one was about 17 inches from the ground.





I just can't tell you how glad I am that I made that sawhorse. It's very stable and is getting the job done nicely. It will definitely make my job much easier! I hope you all have a nice and warm winter!

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