During the past year I set out to redesign the sawhorse.

I wanted to see if a 3-point design could be made that would solve the problem of the typical quadruped version that wobbles on uneven surfaces. I found that a 3-legged horse could be very stable.

The parts were cut out of a single 4×8 sheet of plywood. The parts can knockdown, nest and pack flat.

These sawhorses can function as both miter saw and table saw stands for a portable workshop. All sorts of components and accessories for the sawhorses can serve a wide variety of functions.

Four-legged sawhorses rock back and forth on uneven terrain. I developed a there-legged design that solves this problem. Three points define a plane.

Typical sawhorses have usefulness limited to placing material on the top of the sawhorse. I wanted sawhorses that employ a deep rail that is bored and slotted to accept adjustable height accessories, provide clamping surfaces, and connect the horses to each other. These holes also reduce weight without an appreciable loss of strength and provide a place to hang tools both within convenient reach and out of the way of the work surface.

Rather than simple material storage offered my most sawhorses, I made them function as building blocks or components like those found in an erector set. They can be configured to work as a miter saw and table saw stand, essentially as a portable, knockdown workshop or used as conventional sawhorses.

This Tri-Horse was not just a revision of the sawhorse. It is paradigm shift where the sawhorse is a component in a set of interlocking parts that can be used for a variety of purposes. The horse is not just a tool to be used independently by a builder, but a building component of an integrated multi-function system.

This kind of versatility allows a builder to do more things with less equipment. No longer needed are dedicated miter saw stands, table saw stands, and separate sawhorses. The same equipment can serve all of these functions. As a working carpenter, I want to downsize the amount of stuff I haul around and work from a more compact vehicle saving time, resources and money.

I also dislike the cheap plastic sawhorses that have proliferated in recent years. I think carpenters should have sawhorses made of wood. Inexpensive, locally grown, renewable and carbon neutral.

I conceived of the "Tri-Horse" design and built the first of these sawhorses out of single 4x8 sheet of 3/4" CDX plywood in my garage last year. Since building that first sawhorse I have built several more and added the various holes and slots to the main rails for additional functionality. The pattern of the holes on the legs was borrowed from a Victorian era metal truss I saw in Europe.

The design continues to evolve as accessories for various uses are added (miter saw stand, table saw stand, adjustable height work support, door bench, work table platform, clamping table, etc.)

At the start, I was the only stakeholder. These sawhorses were just a new homemade tool for my carpentry business. Clients, fellow carpenters and complete strangers kept commenting on them and asking questions about them. An editor at Fine Homebuilding magazine found out about them and asked me to write an article about them for publication. Once published, there were many requests for making plans available and carpenters and woodworkers all over the world are now building their own.

There is also interest in producing these Tri-Horses as a product for sale, so the pool of stakeholders could then include manufacturers, distribution and the broader marketplace.

The value here is multifaceted. Tri-Horses are highly adaptable creatures and part of a modular ecosystem of work station components that work together. These are the Tinker Toys of carpentry tools.

Stronger than plastic and lighter than a comparable steel product (20 pounds lighter than a similarly sized "JawHorse"). These sawhorses are made of locally-sourced, renewable and recyclable material.

The greatest value I have perceived so far is how startled some people are by the design. It literally stops some people in their tracks. I believe this what Piaget might have called "cognitive disequilibrium." Simply put, they are surprised by these sawhorses, in a way that gets them thinking about new possibilities for them. It turns people who see them into inventors themselves. Many people ponder them and offer suggestions. I think some of the best ideas will come from other people who were given something to think about by seeing them.

I described these horses as part of an ecosystem of worksite components, they are also part of a new paradigm of thinking about work platforms and systems.

Tri-Horses were my personal DIY project, from concept to creation and subsequent cycles of refinement. After the design was covered by Fine Homebuilding and later published in the Journal of Light Construction, Tools of the Trade, and received the "Editor's Choice" award on the LumberJocks website, many people ordered plans and expanded these into a DIY movement.

The plans are a 12-page PDF that includes dimensioned drawings, photos, illustrations and instructions for building sawhorses in a range of lengths from 4' to 8', in heights of 30" to 36" and in both the three-legged "Tri-Horse" and in a more traditional 4-legged version.

The plans are primarily for the building of the sawhorses with some photos, illustrations, and suggestions about how to use them and accessorize them.

We are using the proceeds from the sale of the sawhorse plans to fund development of accessory plans that will follow. This process is being shaped by feedback from people using the horses depending on what they request plans for.