Soft saddle:
The battered, saw-chewed top rails of most sawhorses can scratch finished wood or furniture. To provide a nonmarring surface, cover 12″ (300 mm) or so at one end of the rails with some lengths of scrap carpeting. Even better, make a timber cap for each sawhorse and cover its top with carpet. Then you can slip the caps on the sawhorses whenever you need them.

Tools at your fingertips:
Add a tool tray between the legs of your sawhorse. Make a shallow box — a 4″ x 1″ (100 x 25 mm) frame with a plywood bottom and attach it to cross braces running between each pair of legs. Put the tray on just one sawhorse so the pair will still stack.

Instant measure:
Nail, screw or glue an old steel tape measure blade to the side of your sawhorse’s top rail. You’ll find it invaluable every time you need to make a cut. Don’t use a wooden rule because it will soon become damaged and illegible.

Sawhorse dogs:
To hold your work in place on sawhorses, drill a series of holes along each top rail, then put nails or pegs in the holes. Measuring from a hole near the rail’s centre, make the distance to each hole correspond to a standard timber dimension — 1-1/2″, 2″, 3″, 4″, 6″, 8″, 10″ and 12″ (38, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150 200, 250 and 300 mm). At most, you’ll need to apply light hand pressure to steady a piece.

Knock-down horses:
Here’s a way to quickly set up and take apart sawhorses made with metal sawhorse brickets and 4″ x 2″ (100 x 50 mm) timbers. Screw the brackets to the legs, but not to the top rail. On each pair of legs, hinge a brace on one leg and cut a slot for it on the other leg. When you force the brace between the legs, the bracket teeth bite into the top rail and forms a sturdy sawhorse. When you release the brace, the rail lifts out and the legs fold.

Sawhorse substitute:
No sawhorse? Your stepladder can sometimes provide instant support for sawing, sanding, planing or painting timber. Simply lay the ladder on its side, open its legs,
and support the timber.

Versatile pieces

Extra reach:
Need to hold a wider piece in your portable workbench? Make four extension pieces from 2″ x 1″ (50 x 25 mm) timber. At one end of each piece, drill a hole and glue in a dowel that fits in the bench dog hole on the bench. At the other ends drill holes that will accept the bench dogs.

Relieve your aching back:
When oversize projects force you out onto the patio, don’t keep stooping to retrieve drills, saws, tapes, pencils and other items from the ground. Instead, take along a fold-up tool table. Made of 3/4″ (19 mm) particleboard or plywood, the table is bench height when set up, but only 4″ (100 mm) deep when collapsed.