Rock Solid Sawbenches

Although I own and use power tools, I consider woodworking solely with hand tools to be a separate artistic discipline, and I am doing what I can to learn and practice that discipline. For hand sawing, a good sawing bench is indispensible. Sawing dovetails or tenons is done at the regular workbench at about waist height, but using a handsaw for crosscuts or ripping requires the material to be held at about knee level. The saw can then be held at the correct angle toward the floor while the cut is made.

Several years ago I made a three-board sawbench, but its wide legs made it difficult to keep the bench from wobbling on the shop floor during use. It was made of ¾ inch pine and was too lightweight, so I ended up disassembling it and recycling the wood.

In Issue 6 (Autumn 2006) of Woodworking Magazine, editor Christopher Schwarz writes about building and using sawbenches. In the magazine he provides drawings, parts lists and instructions to build what he calls a “traditional English sawbench”, and on the magazine blog at http://www.woodworking-magazine.com/blog/ he shows how to use the bench for handsawing.

I liked the sturdy design, so I decided I would build a couple. I followed his design pretty closely, with only a few minor deviations. For example, I just couldn’t bring myself to follow his recommendation to nail the bottom shelf boards, so I glued and pegged each one in place. The finished benches are heavy and rock solid. The only problem is that now I need a larger shop!