This may be too basic and surely not necessary for most here, but if you don’t have the space or inclination to have a full stand, or are brand-new to shaping, these are may be a good alternative Good if you need to work outside as well. I use these when I work on boards at my parents place where the backyard is the only option. I found them much better than saw-horses and they take up much less space in the back of the tiny shed when stored between visits. Materials: - Two dock planks - the kind you find washed up on the beach after a big storm - often 10" x 2" x 36" to 48" - Two 5 gallon compound buckets. almost any dumpster contains them, or they can be bought at home depot for about $3 ea. - Electric jigsaw or hand jigsaw - Carpet or carpet padding scraps - Duct tape - Sand -Shovel Directions: - Cut the planks to just below elbow height (your preference) - Make two parallel cuts on one end of each plank that are 4 inches apart and 8-10 inches deep. - Cut out the wood between the the parallel cuts and try to create a flat bottom (but it is not really necessary for this to be flat as it will be padded) - Take the carpet, or padding, scraps and line the inside edges, bottom of the cutout, and ends of the cutout end of the plank and secure this firmly with a few rounds of tape. If you have a long enough piece of material run it from over the top of one side of the cutout, down into the cutout and up over the top of the other side of the cut, forming a sling that the blank/board can rest in. - Put the square end of the planks in the buckets and fill around them with sand. This makes them heavy, stable enough, and somewhat adjustable as to height and angle, since they can be shifted in the sand a bit. Regular dirt or rocks/gravel will work too - but sand is easiest. - set them up as level with each other as you can and shape the board. - when your done you can dump the sand and stack the buckets within each other with both planks leaning up against the wall until the next time you need them.