THREE LEGGED FOLDABLE SAWHORSE
The sawhorses I already had were great sawhorses built from
Matthias Wandels plans, the only problem was, they were in the way
inside the workshop, so I ended up leaving them outside and even-
tually they rotted away. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to make
a foldable sawhorse while still staying fairly compact and I realised a
three legged sawhorse would be an easy way to achieve that. My first
steps were to mock up a three legged horse by just clamping pieces
of studding timber together. I’ve always been quite skeptical of three
legged sawhorses but I was surprised how stable it was. I decided the
project was worth continuing with. Obviously a standard four legged
sawhorse would be more stable but in 95% of cases the three legged
sawhorse would be more than sufficient.
These plans are fairly basic. There should be enough info to help
you build your own sawhorses. I recommend watching my YouTube
video as there is a certain order to the assembly - you can find it here
- or at my Youtube channel ‘paskmakes’. In the video I build one with
basic tools (handsaw) but it would be easier and quicker using power
tools - dropsaw, bandsaw or jigsaw etc.
I made my sawhorses from two 35 x 70mm x 2.4m (3 x 1 1/2” x 8’)
pine studs as I have plenty of it in stock, but any type of stud will be
fine. Each sawhorse needs 3 carriage bolts, glue and a handful of
screws.
The 3 legs were cut out of the first piece of pine stud and if your
timber is exactly 2.4m like mine then you will do it with nothing to
spare. You could always shorten each leg by a few millimeters if
needed to get them out of one piece.
The foot of the legs and the leg stops need to be cut at an angle, the
two for the pair of legs are cut at 5° and the single leg at 10°.
Cut all the pieces before you start to assemble. All of the pieces are
joined with glue and screws.
The sawhorse needs to be assembled in two halves - each of the pair
of legs bolted to one of the top rails with a carriage bolt and the head
of the bolt recessed into the back of the rail - then both halves joined
together with spacers in-between. The length of bolts will depend
on the thickness of timber you use.
In my video I fitted the single leg afterwards but in hindsight I
should’ve clamped the single leg in place and drilled through the leg
and one side of the top rail before the two halves of the sawhorse
were joined together - then the hole could’ve been drilled all the way
through and into the other rail after the two halves were joined. This
would’ve been easier and more accurate.
Please read through the whole plan before starting.
 10 Degrees
800.0mm

800.0mm 806.0mm
5
. Degrees
Legs from one 2400mm length of pine stud. Cut
this way to get the three legs from one piece.

800.0mm

806.0mm
Rounderover the top of all 930mm
930.0mm

three legs. Make a mark

using a compass set to half
the distance of the width of
timber.

The pair of legs cut at

The pair of legs cut at 5 degrees
5 degrees

The single leg

Single isatcut
leg cut at
10 degrees

10 degrees

The bottom of the pair of legs could be

cut with a compound angle to sit flat on
the ground but I didn’t worry about that.
 65.0mm

70.0mm

Spacer block

Leg stop cutCutatat a55 degree

de-angle
grees

44 The angle of the wedge

is found by a 4:1 ratio.
The angle of the wedge
is found by a 4:1 ratio.
They start They
outstartatout the
at the thickness
of the timber by the thickness
thickness ofofthe the timber
timber x4 then cut down

by the thickness
after they have been fitted.
This depends on the thickness
of the timberof the x4
timberthen
you use - mine
worked out at 35 x 140mm.
cut down after they
have been fitted.
The actual measure-
ment depends on the
11 thickness of the timber
you use - mine worked
out at
35 x 140mm.
Assemble each half of the sawhorse
then join both halves together with
spacer blocks in-between.
 This is how I measured the hole for the bolt in the single leg. I had
to do this because I had already joined both halves of the horse
together.
In hindsight and a better way would be to clamp the single leg in
place and drill through the leg (there would be a mark in the cor-
65.0mm
rect position from where a compass was used to mark the
roundover for the top of the legs) and one side of the top rail
before the two halves of the sawhorse are joined together - then
the hole can be drilled all the way through and into the other rail
after the two halves are joined.

100.0mm

Leg stop acts as 2nd

spacer block

37.0mm

Cut at a 10 degree angle

 The end with the two legs is very stable so do
your work such as sawing from this end.

When using two sawhorses together - turn them around opposite ways to give
more stability.