FOLDING SAWHORSE VIDEO TUTORIAL
How to Build Strong, Lightweight Folding Sawhorses
Build durable plywood sawhorses that carry substantial weight, fold flat for transport and can be made as a matching pair in a few hours.
Quick Access Video Guide
Select a topic to jump directly to that part of the video.
0:03 See the design and load test
Review the folding plywood design, its long service history and how easily a pair can be carried.
1:44 Review parts and dimensions
Identify the top rails, lower rails and legs needed for one sawhorse before doubling the list.
2:40 Choose screws and chamfer the legs
Use fasteners that will not pierce the plywood and create clearance for the hinge barrels.
3:25 Assemble the two side frames
Overlap the rails and legs, use glue and begin with one screw per joint so the frame remains adjustable.
6:02 Square and finish each frame
Check the assembly with a framing square before installing the remaining screws.
6:37 Position and fasten the hinges
Align each hinge so its body clears the plywood edge and the two halves fold without binding.
8:10 Join the two folding halves
Stand both halves together, align the bottoms and finish fastening the hinges.
9:20 Add the chain spread limiter
Install eyebolts and chain—or strong rope—to control the open stance and working height.
Build a Folding Sawhorse That Is Light, Strong and Easy to Carry
The strength comes from ¾-inch plywood, overlapping rail-and-leg joints, glue and careful hinge placement—not from heavy solid lumber.
Cut the Parts from Sound Exterior-Grade Plywood
Each sawhorse uses two 30×4-inch top rails, two 30×3-inch lower rails and four 37×3-inch legs. Use sound ¾-inch exterior plywood without loose layers or internal bubbles.
Chamfer the Upper Leg Corners
Removing the sharp upper corners gives the hinge barrel room to move. Without that clearance, the plywood can bind against the hinge and prevent the sawhorse from opening and closing properly.
Assemble Two Square Halves
Fasten each rail initially with one screw at every leg so the assembly can still move. Check it with a framing square, adjust it, then add the remaining screws. Waterproof glue at the overlapping joints adds useful long-term durability.
Position the Hinges Without Binding
Align the flat hinge leaf with the plywood and keep the hinge body clear of the edge. Attach one side first, stand the two halves together, confirm alignment and then finish fastening the second side.
Limit the Open Width with Chain or Rope
A chain or strong rope between the lower rails prevents the legs from spreading. Set the length so the sawhorse opens to a stable stance while keeping the working height you want.
Adapt the Dimensions to Your Work
The demonstrated dimensions create a practical general-purpose sawhorse, but the leg length, rail width and open stance can be adjusted. Keep both halves identical and preserve adequate hinge and spread-limiter strength.
FROM HENRY’S TOOLBOX
Tools Used in the Video and Henry’s Recommendations
These are the tools used for the work or the models I would personally choose today. You do not need every item—or the exact same brand—to complete the project.
Makita 18V Drill and Impact Driver Kit
Why I recommend it: I used to favour Dewalt, but I find Makita a little more powerful and battery life about 20 to 30% more compared to the Dewalt 20v.
DEWALT 6½-inch Cordless Circular Saw
Why I recommend it: A light cordless saw is useful for cutting framing and plywood when power is not nearby. It has enough capacity for the work and avoids dragging a cord through an outdoor work area. Over the last few years, this has become my favorite over corded saws.
STANLEY FATMAX 25 ft Tape Measure
Why I recommend it: This is the tape brand I prefer and reach for most often because the blade is durable, the markings are clear and it extends well when I am working alone.
How to Build Strong, Lightweight Folding Sawhorses FAQs
Direct answers based on Henry’s demonstrations and the visible project details.
What plywood should be used for these folding sawhorses?
Use sound ¾-inch exterior-grade plywood, especially if the sawhorses may be exposed to damp conditions or outdoor use. Watch the matching demonstration →
What are the basic parts dimensions for one sawhorse?
One sawhorse uses two 30×4-inch top rails, two 30×3-inch lower rails and four 37×3-inch legs. Double the quantities to build a pair. Watch the matching demonstration →
Why use waterproof glue at the overlapping joints?
The glue reinforces the screwed lap joints and improves long-term durability, particularly when the sawhorses are used outdoors. Watch the matching demonstration →
Why are the upper leg corners chamfered?
The chamfers provide clearance for the hinge barrels so the two halves can open and fold without binding against sharp plywood corners. Watch the matching demonstration →
What prevents the legs from spreading too far?
A chain or strong rope connects the lower rails and limits the open width. Adjust its length to establish a stable stance and suitable working height. Watch the matching demonstration →
Can the sawhorse height or width be changed?
Yes. The leg length, rail width and spread can be adjusted, but both halves must remain identical and the hinge and spread-limiter connections must remain strong. Watch the matching demonstration →
Video Transcript
Read the complete spoken lesson or use the timestamp links to return to the matching demonstration.
Open the complete video transcript
A lightly edited transcript of Henry’s spoken instructions. Obvious transcription and spelling errors have been corrected; the instructional meaning has not been rewritten.
0:03 See the design and load test
Welcome to Country Life Projects. I’m Henry Reinders. Today we’re gonna show you how to build some very lightweight but very strong sawhorses that fold up can be put in your van or your car quite easily and we’re gonna do it because we have some plywood leftover from the chicken coop that we’re building which we’re gonna post soon and it’s doesn’t take much and they’re very simple to put together probably a couple hours work and you’ll have some sawhorses they’ll last 15 years these are 15 years old you can see with this bottle lumber on here that’s quite a bit of weight they have no problem handling that I’ll shake it a bit I mean you can see they’re not moving much we just took the lumber off I’m just going to show you how easy these are to pick up.
Very portable you can take both of them in one hand has something else in the other hand walk right on to the jobsite. Okay, I’m just gonna go over quickly how this is put together it’s really straightforward what we have is we have the legs coming down like this we got a heftier top rail here smaller rail here and then it’s hinged on either end at the top here and then on the bottom to keep them from pulling apart we have a chain now this is a fairly heavy-duty chain when I built these I used what I had but it has stood the test of time you can use rope or lighter chain that won’t matter so. Next I’m just going to grab the parts and show you what we have.
1:44 Review parts and dimensions
Okay there’s not that many parts to make the sawhorses here we’re gonna be building one today. Okay, obviously you want to so you just double up on these measurements and these pieces so what we have we got two top rails there are 30 by 4 inches we got to lower rails these are the ones that the chain get connected to there are thirty by three inches and we got four legs there 37 by three inches but depending on what height you want your sawhorses is you can be flexible on that too you can also make them wider or narrow if you like but these are the measurements we’re using so 37 by 3 30 by 3 and 30 by 4 inches for the top rails that’s where your material.
Is gonna sit on top of when you’re using them you also want some waterproof glue for where we join these together so if you’re using these outside they won’t come apart and we’re gonna.
2:40 Choose screws and chamfer the legs
Be using one and a quarter inch screws we have 3/4 inch plywood so these will not go through we’re also going to be using those to put the hinges on and talking about hinges I want to show you a little detail at the top of these legs that we’ve done to make sure the hinges fit properly so. As you can see, I’ve chamfered the ends here so that when we put these hinges on after they’re gonna sit in here and the won’t but up to the edge of the sharp edge like that so if I sit in here quite nicely and we’ve done that on both sets of legs you can see them they’re done here also what we’ve done on the legs on the bottoms where it’s going to be.
3:25 Assemble the two side frames
Touching the ground we’ve just sanded off these edges quickly so that when you’re moving your sawhorses around this doesn’t splinter over time as far as the quality of the plywood anything that is well laminate is not coming apart 3/4 inch is good enough to use for these this is just regular three-quarter inch sheeting so pretty much use anything you want as long as it’s strong. Okay, we’re ready to put these together we’re going to use the table here to make sure that we’re making assembling them square if you don’t have a table I’m going to show you the first thing I do and then you can square it up after that if you have a regular framing square or something like that so pretty much only one screw on each section and highly recommend glue don’t have to.
But it’ll add plenty of years to life here sawhorses and. You’ll notice, over here we’re actually working from the outside of the sawhorse so that Schappert edge is on the legs here is down that’s important and I have this all laid out so they’re approximately where they got to go and to start with I’ve also measured six and a half inches up here you can that’s not too critical you can make it whatever you like as long as it’s roughly in this area I’ve got a flush to the outside of the leg here and I’m holding it up put one screw in that way I can still adjust the sawhorse square afterwards I’m going to do that on each one of these anything on the top rail I’ll line it up make sure it’s all flush top and on the end here.
Doesn’t matter which corner you put them on right now so now that I got it put together if you don’t have a table like this there you can use the table to see if it’s square and you would.
6:02 Square and finish each frame
Just take a framing square and just run it on the inside here or on the outside here and along here and because we only got one screw and each piece right. Now you can still adjust it to get a square and it’s important that a square because you’re gonna have two halves coming together and they got to be identical so so we’re gonna do that and then. Once we have it all square we’re gonna put four screws in each section here so I’m gonna do that now once I have this finished we’ll come back after I got the two sections made I’ll show you the next step we’re gonna start putting the saw.
6:37 Position and fasten the hinges
Verses together two hinges one thing about the hinges. As you can see, these are old we’re just using whatever we have but the pins on these do not come out that’s important so if you’re buying in jizz hit a minimum of three inches for strength and make sure the pins don’t come out so when you’re putting the hinges on you want to line up this square part of the hinge here or the line here on the straight part with the line here on your sham for approximately just make sure this part of the hinge is not riding up on here you want this part nice and flat on the plywood because that makes us stronger in the long run and you want this square to the leg so.
Just grab a square put it on there like that and you have your line and if you want you can just mark it there so you can pull the hinge away get your screws screw gun just like I’m gonna do here screws ready here and we’re using one and a quarter we have a total of one and a half inches apply what we’re going through so they won’t go through and just put a screw in the center of the hole and we’re good to go we’re gonna do the same thing on the other side once I have this piece done we’ll get the other half of the sawhorse and we’ll put them together and show you how to do that.
8:10 Join the two folding halves
Okay. Once we have the edge mounted on the one side of the sawhorse all we have to do is on top of a nice flat surface is put these together like this and the same thing is here you don’t want this part of the body of the hinge writing on top of here you just want the plate part we’re just gonna line it up make sure these are both flat down here and we’re just going to screw put one screw in for. Now we’re going to line up the bottom and put one in there unless we know that they’re good I’ll just lift it up do a quick check everything looks good once you know that’s all good then you just finished screwing it together screwing the hinges on I should say.
9:20 Add the chain spread limiter
Okay we’re just about done. Now we obviously need a chain at the bottom from coming apart we’re gonna use small piece that I have kicking around a couple bolts. Now you don’t need chain if you don’t happen to have any you can actually run rope through tie a knot on the outside either side as long as it doesn’t come loose you’ll be fine look for this one we have some overkill bolts with nuts we’re gonna use them and a fairly strong piece of chain and we’ve already pre-drilled our holes centered this way centered this way so one and a half 15 in and we’re gonna put the bolt from the outside in because if you did the other way and what you’re using you have.
That sticking out and it could catch on stuff could catch on stuff in your vehicle or your leg or your bounce or whatever so you just put that through hold it in place and we’ll take a look around the back here I’m just you know I’m putting this on there’s nothing fancy about it put that on there just get a snug for now. Now you can get a little fancier you could use an eyebolt here have the chain coming straight out it really doesn’t matter too much and you’ll also notice on the bolt here that I’m using a washer on the outside just ensures that it doesn’t pull through over the years we take the other piece of the chain actually also look at the chain.
Here you’ll see that this side here there’s a little flatter so we’re going to put that this way to make sure the washer goes on properly just get it snugged up put those down like that if you like nice a little more even I got some wrenches we’re gonna tighten these up and then we’re just about done all these nice and snug so they don’t come loose on you tighten them up really good that’s that on there it’s pretty quick and simple now that span across there if you’re wondering is about 20 inches and it’s about what you want so whatever amount of chain or rope you use trying to get about 20 inches across here if you use the same height of 37 inches that we.
Used here that’s about it you can just close them up like that pick them up two of them no problem wherever you’re going you’re just done just like that now one other thing you might want to do if you’re gonna be cutting or using these for nicer pieces of plywood or finished material you could take your sander down here and just round these edges off other than that though there’s not really a lot you’d have to do so there you go quick easy and really strong you.
Build a Matching Pair
Cut the parts for both sawhorses at the same time, assemble matching halves and set both chain lengths equally so the finished pair stands at the same height.
Henry Reinders has 45 years experience as a Professional Builder, Renovator and Woodworker under his belt (including 3 years apprenticing in his early twenties in Amsterdam, The Netherlands). He loves the country life, outdoors and gardening and will be sharing what he knows on Countrylifeprojects.com
1 Comment
Awesome work you do like watching video’s sheds are unbelievable look great. Trying pick out color and have barn doors look in a stain . Thinking going with a Minwax stain on the doors . I been looking at you color of sheds. Wife wants cedar not many colors go with cedar . Thanks for saw horses video have so 3/4 ply might give it try . Thanks Frank