Brian Campbell is a finish carpenter in St. Paul, Minnesota, whom I am acquainted with through Facebook. For the last year or so he has been posting photos of a sawhorse work station he was developing in hopes of turning it into a product. He has, and it's called the Tri-Horse—so named because each horse has three points of contact with the ground. At this point Brian is selling plans; but who knows, someday it may be possible to buy ready-made Tri-Horses.
It's not my intention to promote the Tri-Horse, any more than it was to promote the Micro-Blaster or Multi-Function Tool Cart when I wrote about them. I just think certain products are cool and that if they interest me then they might interest you. This product is cool because:
- It breaks down and stores flat for transport
- It can be set up different ways
- You can make it yourself so it's completely customizable
Tri-Horses are shaped like sawhorses and can be used as such, but are best suited for use as saw stands or supports for work tables. They are designed to be made from a double-layer of 3/4-inch plywood or MDO. Two sheets of plywood are enough to make one 4-footer and one 8-footer. They look pretty simple to make—just some cutting, drilling, and gluing. To me, the worst part would be gluing up the double-layer pieces of plywood. It's not hard to do; I just don't like doing it. Too bad there isn't an inexpensive material that's already the right thickness.
If there's a flaw in the design of the Tri-Horse, it's the likely weight of the pieces—which has to be greater than that of the average manufactured stand. Then again, manufactured stands are difficult to customize and can't be set up as many ways as Tri-Horses can. It's a clever design that appeals to me because I'm one of those guys who'd rather build than buy.
The video below shows one way to set up a Tri-Horse work station. The slideshow on the left contains photos of various details plus a page from the plans. The plans consist of a 12-page PDF that Campbell sells for $10.
