Tutorial: Building Lightweight I-Beam Sawhorses

These sawhorses are cut from 1x4's (the I-beams) and 1x3's (the legs). They weigh ~8 lbs each. They make a good Saturday project, and one set can probably be built in under two hours by first-timers, or I'd expect a carpenter to be able to pretty easily build two sets in less than two hours. Of course, this time frame doesn't include the trip to the lumberyard for the materials.

[@kelseykennedy2420]

Thanks for this, Matt. These are great! They are quite similar to the herd of sawhorses I've built over the years. The design was shown to me by an old Okie carpenter ~30 years ago. I typically use 2x4s for the top & center of the beam and 1x4s for the bottom and the legs.

[@multitutorialguy5735]

I appreciate the feedback - perhaps next time I make a set or 2 of horses I'll try that - some places don't sell 1x3's, so being able to roll with whatever is available is good. Take care, Kennedy.

[@jlippencott1]

A few points; Some wood glue on the mating faces of the I-Beam would improve the strength considerably. Also, driving screws (or nails) through the top rails into the ends of the legs is not a good idea. You run the risk of splitting the leg ends and weakening their hold, rather than strengthening. I would run one or two machine screws w/nuts cross-ways through both legs and the center vertical of the beam instead to pull them together. Wood screws would work too, but would not be as strong.
End grain is weak and is also usually not considered a valid surface for fasteners or especially for gluing.

[@ayushsachan5263]

I want to use these saw horses for my squats at gym....so will u plz tell that how much weight can these saw horses support

[@multitutorialguy5735]

Hello Ayush, one sawhorse has supported 370 lbs (2 people, one on each end, sitting above the sawhorse legs), but for your use I would build the sawhorses out of 2x4's instead of 1x4's and 1x3's. The reason is that the heavier sawhorses will be less prone to moving out of position if you were standing between them and bumped one while doing your squats. You could also add 2 pieces of 2x4 to each horse with a gap between them for setting the bar down, and that would keep your weights from rolling.