So I've been able to get some time again to work in the shop on some saw horses from a plan that was in the latest issue of Fine Woodworking. These Krenov-inspired sawhorses are pretty basic in their construction. Each utilizes a base attached with mortise and tennon joinery with an upright, and then two cross pieces for the middle.
These cross pieces use a wedged throuh mortise and tennon joint, with two small wedges designed to flare out the tennon for a snug fit. I chose some left-over purple heart from my last project which produces a very subtle, yet noticable detail on the project. The contrasting, lighter sapwood in walnut is really nice with the darker heartwood. Although this usually blends to a more even caramel brown over time, it still is one of my favorite examples of using both heart and sapwoods in a project.
The lower portion of the tops for each sawhorse utilize a nice
contrasting detail of heart/sapwood, that most woodworkers would have thrown in the scrap pile. I was able to make the use out of two individual boards I picked up from a local supplier here in town. (George the Sawyer, from one of my earlier posts).
Speaking of local suppliers of wood, I mentioned a local licensed importer of domestic and exotic hardwoods that I learned about (Midwest Woodworking) also here in town. I arranged for a visit of his 30,000+ sq. ft. facility and was simply amazed at what I saw. This guy had massive boules (flitch-cut logs) of makore, mahogany, sapele and bubinga larger than I have ever seen in my life. Single boards over 2" thick, 4 feet wide and over 20 feet long were grouped together in massive stacks.
The selection of teak came in 6/4, and 8/4 sizes, most from logs that were cut over 5 decades earlier. Cherry, walnut, oak, ash, all just incredible stacks of lumber right here in my back yard, They are very willing to sell large volumes of lumber, or by the individual board. The board I purchased a few weeks back of sapele is now a part of my next project: a large Nakishima style slab coffee table. I'll share some progress photos of that on my next blog posting.