what do you use Ippe wood for?
rivrdog | Email | Homepage | 05.25.07 - 6:52 pm | #

I buy the $19 18v drills at Harbor Freight. Use 'em every day. Throw 'em away when they die. Yeah, they're made in China, but so are an awful lot of the Craftsman drills, now. For yanking a couple dozen cover screws and running them back in, they're great, and the batteries last a lot longer than you'd expect.

Not that I'm knocking the Craftsman stuff, it's good quality- but I thrash the damned things so much that I can't see myself buying anything of any serious quality.
og | Email | Homepage | 05.25.07 - 8:14 pm | #

Dang, an entire deck of ipe? Bet it looks great, please post pics when you're done.
stankshooter | Email | Homepage | 05.25.07 - 10:07 pm | #

My brother got the same set for Christmas, and so far is impressed with the lot. I have DeWalt 18v, and must say having a cordless trim saw is REALLY handy, especially for trimming roof sheathing.

farmist
farmist | Email | Homepage | 05.25.07 - 10:09 pm | #

Dude, you practically stole that tool kit. That was an excellent deal. Congratulations.
Legman688 | Email | Homepage | 05.25.07 - 10:13 pm | #

Chris, what you're going to run into is you are getting locked into a "system". You're investing, somewhere over $300 for a system that's meant for "casual duty" You're getting to the point where you can't bring yourself to spend money on the 18v Dewalt system.

Personally, I'm not crazy about cordless tools for the most part generally, they're more money, are less powerful, and have occasional quality issues. I have a 20 year old Craftsman cordless drill I'm about to resurrect with new batteries(Sub C) for casual use - If I have to drill ALOT of holes, I'll get one of the corded drills. I may pickup a used 14.4 volt Dewalt on ebay, as my brother has the same system, and allows me to borrow stuff I normallly wouldn't have. Otherwise, I would SERIOUSLY suggest the Horror Freight cordless drill - they have nowhere near the power or durability of the Dewalt they're knocked off of, but when an entire drill package costs a third of just the Dewalt battery pack? If it lasts a year, you're ahead of the game. It certainly hurts less if you say, drop it off the roof, or run over it with a car..

Oh! You want a "Cordless" impact wrench? Well, most of the electric ones are down on power compared to the Pnuematics. If you want a real slick trick, get an Industrial CO2 reg that takes PB cylinders.
HTRN | Email | Homepage | 05.25.07 - 10:52 pm | #

Oh, I jsut want it for driving screws. I have an air compressor and a real impact driver and impact wrench for the duties that need them.

Oh and I'm not building an Ipe deck quite yet; the Ipe is for woodworking projects. It's jsut the most difficult thing I could find to screw into that wasn't needed for something else.
Chris Byrne | Email | Homepage | 05.25.07 - 11:15 pm | #

......I think you need a support group.
Alcibiades | Email | Homepage | 05.26.07 - 12:10 am | #

Chris,

This( http://www.octopustap.com/cart/p...? products_id=59 ) + a CO2 regulator(Don't use a Beer reg! They're too low pressure!) and you can run Air tools off of a 12oz Paintball tank. I've heard they're very popular with roofers and siders for Nail guns.. Add a "tank pouch" to go on a belt, and you're ready to use any air tool without a compressor. It costs about $4 to fill the tank at a local PB place, and in the case of Nail guns, runs them quite a while.
HTRN | Email | Homepage | 05.26.07 - 12:33 pm | #

I've seen it, and it's cool; but I don't quite need that.
Chris Byrne | Email | Homepage | 05.26.07 - 7:40 pm | #

Very nice.
*drool*
jimmyb` | Email | Homepage | 05.27.07 - 8:59 am | #