Sawhorse Sentiments

It is a well known fact that I am a highly sentimental and emotional person. I tend to hold on to items from my past that trigger memories or were just always there when I was growing up. Things like a couple of jelly jars with my grandmother's handwriting, which she would put homemade jelly in. Don't worry though, I'm not a hoarder! No camera crews are going to be showing up at my house trying to clean it out with the help of a front loader.


My dad has been a carpenter for over thirty years, working his way from apprentice up to the title of master carpenter. He has worked on every single type of project imaginable, from historical renovations, private home construction and all the way to overseeing custom homes that have been featured in Architectural Digest. Because of my dad being a carpenter, I remember his sawhorses being around my entire life. Every evening after work they'd be in the back of the truck, getting more beat up by the day. I also use to pretend they were regular horses and would play for hours on them.


A few months ago my dad asked us to come over and pick out what we wanted for when he moved out of his house. He's in the process of majorly downsizing his current life in favor for a much more movable one. The two things that I really wanted- his tool chest and the sawhorses. The sawhorses are still the same ones from all those years ago, and man do they look it but it doesn't matter because they are still usable.

Christmas rolls around and my dad tells us that our presents are in the basement. Yay presents! So my sister and I head on down to check them out. Pete and I got a brand new pair of sawhorses! My sister, being in that she has a livable house, got a pair of Adirondack chairs! The best part is that they are handmade by our father.

Dad explained to me that these are a copy of his sawhorses, which are an original design that he came up with back in his apprentice days (1980?) because the ones on the job site were horrible and kept breaking. He explained that we can also use them as a step ladder or scaffolding if we put a piece of plywood down between the two. Put the plywood down on top and pop a table cloth on- I'll have myself an excellent extra picnic table. Plus because of the placments of the lower steps, with one on the outside and the other inside, they can be easily stacked and stored away.

I LOVE them. I love them so much that I don't really want to use them. But I will, because they are meant to be used and frankly are going to be so handy to have during this renovation. Our current sawhorses are rinky dink plastic ones.