leinielson

I've had many tools in my life, some still survive. With care they last much longer. I wax mine when new, the dust seems to blow off better! I have 5 Festools now & without reservation are the best. All have dust collection & innovation unrivaled so far. The Domino has made my ideas come to life! The Rotax sander & vac a joy to use. My panel saw & 1968 PM 66 tablesaw are now quiet thanks to the TS 55 saw & 2 rails! They cost much more but so many tools in the past have had issues (breakdowns) way before even the brushes are half worn! Yes my Milwaukee 12" chop saw is great, my Bosch 10' table saw is too (after 3 replacements!) Great tools cost more up front but are more reliable in the long run to me. Go to OWWM.com & see what I mean! On the other hand while we are all looking for work and most tools are made overseas, (Milwaukee, Powermatic ect. now China), maybe we should look to our own innovations & creativity to pull this country back to where it should be; THE BEST!

RE my last post; thats 1/4" deflection with me standing on the rail in the center

One more plug for Ipe, It has the same fire rating as steel and or concrete! (also will not float) I made a overhead shutter system using 1x4s connected by 1x1 rails as to be adjustable for sun movement all made of Ipe. The boards pivot on stainless 1/4" pins and or bolts & still work fine after 9 years! The top of the railing is 1x8 strongbacked with 1x4s buiscut joined @ 8" on center. Deflection is 1/4" in 10' length. My point is that the overhead shutter has lasted many years in the sun and weather over a 12' x 10' area with minimal maintenance! The wood is very strong so lends to creating over the top ideas with little worry about structural failure. Try that with Plastic. (8' railing sections that sag 1" in the center on the 1 trex deck I built) Granted the system is divided in two 5' wide grids making the slats 5' long, still no sag! Ipe cuts just fine with carbide tools,(what else would you use anyway?) I have sanded full decks with my Festool Rotax 6" sander with the vacuum with great results. It's still just wood any way you cut it (Ha). I'm sure as other posts like synthetic decking and makes sense in those places, I'll stick with my favorite wood of all; IPE!!!

I have built many decks using Ipe. Coated with Penofin or Sikkens finishes. I've made many custom gates also with Ipe mortice & tennon joinery that have lasted for years though need yearly recoating with the original product. I have also installed trex products & the like with negative results (fading, black spots, sagging ect.) A customer of late had a deck made of Ipe using Ebties nylon fasteners as I've used many times. This deck is 5 years old now and had no finish as they wanted no yearly maintenance, but the wood after 5 years looked old and had shown cracks and such they decided to sand the deck & railings in order to coat with a finish. I used Penofin and the end result was spectacular. As if it was new! I cant see the use of synthetic matl's at all, higher cost, inferior look and inferior strength. Scott Ater Canyon Construction Seattle Wa.