Japanese Saw Horse

I have been using a slab of redwood on some metal horses from time to time to do work with mobility. I decided to make a Japanese styled bench with 2 saw horses and using a plank or the table.  I also just thought it would just be nice using a furniture grade bench in the house.

This is actually completely made of recycled redwood.  The posts were all from a fence in Woodland Ca, that had rotted and I had replaced them and the other fence members.  There was still a few feet of usable (not rotted or bug eaten) wood that, while not the deep dark brown redwood of some of the old wood I have reclaimed, is still tight grained and was easy to work with.  This is the first of the two horses which I based off of the one in the The Workbench Book by Scott Landis.

For the top I have a 2" slab of Doug Fir around 12" wide and a 4" thick piece of Fir that will make up the top.  The larger slab will be more of the work surface and the thinner piece will tend to hold my tools and such.

I did everything by hand which was a good way to break in my Mitsukawa Ryoba saw that I bought at Hida Tool in Berkeley a while back.  Although my specific saw is not on their list of tools on their website, I find that if you chat with them they will find something that will suit your needs if you are looking to purchase something that may hurt your wallet, but feel good in your hands.

I do have a cheaper Hardwood Ryoba from Mitsukawa with a replaceable blade, that I also very much recommend.  

In addition there was plenty of mortise and tenon work practice I was able to get in.

I am again working with Jay Van Arsdale, with others doing community work for the Japanese Garden in Oakland.  While we are just ramping up the project it seems like it will be a joy for all those around.  For info and a site with a lot of information see DaikuDojo.org

Sorry about the terrible photo, I cannot find my camera, and this is my iphone still.  Weak I know!