Jawhorse – Plywood Accessory

Rockwell Jawhorse Plywood Accessory Overview

If you haven’t read our review on the Jawhorse, you can take a look at the Jawhorse review.  As you may have guessed we enjoyed reviewing this system as it is one of those practical tools.  Besides being a versatile tool, we really like all the different accessories you can buy for the Jawhorse.  While the accessory name implies this is for Plywood, you can really use it for almost anything.  The Plywood accessory is really just a longer jaw so a user can clamp a wider range of materials.  With the plywood jaw, a user can now clamp from a range of 32″ – 50 1/2″ range.

This larger clamping area makes it perfect for clamping, obviously plywood, but also large doors, garage door panels and more.  What is great about this accessory is that a user not only gets the larger jaw, but the system also comes with the brackets to construct the outrigger supports for the large materials.

The Jawhorse Plywood Accessory Review

As you may have all ready guessed by the introduction, there is not a lot to test.  With the larger clamping jaw, we knew it could hold the weight of larger items no problem.  So what we decided to test was the practical aspect of the plywood accessory.  We wanted to see how easy it was to set up with the outriggers, how stable the system would be and how practical it would be for a work area.

First we took a look at the outriggers and setting the system up.  Setting up the outriggers was a piece of cake, very easy.  The brackets that come with the system are designed for a 2×4 and hold the 2×4 in place using a hand tightening system.  Now for the legs, a 2×4 is also used for support.  For the video we just used one 2×4 for each leg to show what happens if the ground is uneven and to see how stable and secure the system would be.  In the real world we would advise to use two 2×4’s per leg so they are easy to adjust.  You can set the system up and if the ground is uneven, you can have the one 2×4 holding the table in place and use the other 2×4 to slide up and down to make the table or work area even.  If you plan on putting heavy weight on the corners, don’t use just screws to hold the 2×4 in place, you can pick up a sliding accessory at your local hardware store that will take a heavier load.  Overall the system and outriggers are very easy to set up.

As we noted, we purposely set the system up a little uneven to see how it would handle.  While any uneven surface will be a little wobbly, the Jawhorse was still very strong, strong enough to put some bricks and about 100lbs on the corner to hold it up.  Even if you have an uneven set up, its very easy to put a shim or something in place to make the system very stable.  All in all, the system is very easy to set up and makes a stable and safe work area.

As for the accessory being practical, well if you are working with larger materials or want a big portable work bench, the plywood accessory is very practical.  Again very easy to set up and work with.  The best part is you have the portability.

Final thoughts on the Jawhorse Plywood Accessory

Over the years we have seen some manufacturers come out with accessories only to disappoint, just something to generate more income for the company.  The plywood accessory is not one of those.  We feel this is a true accessory for anyone who is going to be clamping larger material or would like to have a portable work bench.  Very strong and easy to set up.  If you’re like us and would rather have a large work area, for the price you can not beat this add on.