Greetings all!
My wife and I are building some decks on my house using ipe wood for the deck boards and railings. Those who are familiar with ipe know that it is VERY heavy and dense; one must pre-drill for every screw and bolt. Our 18-volt cordless (Ryobi) drill has been great for drilling little holes for the #10 screws in the deckboards and in the railings, but it is nowhere nearly up to the task of drilling 1/2 inch holes through ipe 4X4's for the lag bolts on the railing posts.
My 18-volt cordless is great for almost every job I have to do, and thus I don't have tons of other uses for a heavy duty, monster-sized corded drill. I'd like to get something that is powerful enough to be able to get this deck job done, but I am not eager to drift into the spectacularly expensive realm of the professional-caliber, gargantuan mega-tools. Any recommendations?
Also, my wife and I could use a router, but have almost no experience in this area. We do not have a specific project in mind, but I think we would benefit from a router that has maximum versatility. I don't think that we'd need a particularly powerful, ultra-heavy duty router. What are the advantages of a plunge router versus a fixed table router? I suppose something under $120 US dollars would be nice, but we would be willing to spend more if necessary. Are there models which are dual purpose -- perhaps they are a hand-held plunge router which can be attached to a table to do fixed table routing? Thanks in advance for any advice!
Chuck