How to Secure Wood on Saw Horses

Secure wood to sawhorses with hand clamps.

Sawhorses are often used as tables. Carpenters, cabinetmakers and handymen use them to sand, build, paint, finish, and stack wood on. Sawhorses are spindly and are not designed to be used as tables and won't take weight without wobbling or dropping the lumber. But when you have to use a sawhorse for a table or a workbench, secure the load by using woodworker's hand clamps. By clamping the wood to the top of the sawhorse, you can save yourself the inevitable crash when the wood falls.

Things You'll Need

• Woodworker's hand clamps

Instructions

1. Stack the wood across two sawhorses. Make two or more stacks if the accumulated height of the wood exceeds 32 inches.

2. Slide open the jaws of two woodworker's hand clamps.

3. Place the top jaw of a hand clamp on the top of the wood. The other jaw should swing under the top of the saw horse beam. The handle of the clamp should be pointing straight down. Repeat this with both sawhorses.

4. Tighten the clamps from the bottom with your hand securing the wood to the top of the sawhorse beam.

Tips & Warnings

• If your wood is longer than 96 inches, use three sawhorses to prevent the wood from bowing.

• Don't stack wood higher than 32 inches on top of a sawhorse. It is unsafe and could lead to the wood toppling over, even with clamps securing it.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish