Decks, Patios, Porches and Docks - New Tigerclaw fastener for Ipe

Has anyone used the tigerclaw fasterner for Ipe? It states that you can hammer them in. Having used Ipe, I am skeptical as it is so dense and hard.

Here is a link to their webpage (http://www.deckfastener.com/)

I have ordered a sample. I will post what I learn if no one posts a response.
Thanks.

You are right that IPE is incredibly hard. I have tried to whack the tiger claws (correct ones meant for IPE) into it. They tend to bend. If you hit them perfectly square and sink them on the powerful first shot, you might get lucky. I'd bet that one out of every three would bend though. Once bent, you can't just straighten them. Trash can is more likely and given the cost, it get's pretty expensive.

A couple other alternatives are availble including the ones that scew in from underneath (deckmasters or something like that), be sure to get the correct ones with short screws because most hardwoods are 3/4"

The oldest option is using a biscuit cutter to put plastic holders in. CAn't rember the name, but there are several versions.

One option that would be absolutely beautifull is to use "pegs". I saw some at a deck show two years ago. THey are made of IPE about 3" long. You use a special drill with three diameter steps to drill through the IPE and the joist. The peg is the same stepped shape as the drill but about 5 thousandths bigger so it wil be tight. You use an expanding glue like gorrila glue and whack them down. The top of the peg will stick up and need to be cut off. Then you sand smooth and finish giving an incredible old fashioned peg floor look, but lots of effort.

I've just hit on another option to IPE. It's also wood from the same Brazilian area. There is a biological name but it's got a lot more characters than IPE. It goes under the trade name King wood or Tiger wood. The wood is lighter than IPE and has grain streaks which are darker. It looks pretty dramatic.

If you by the S4S (sanding four sides) material, the challenge to holding it down is the same, but there is an distributer in chicago that sells it with grooves milled into the sides. A stainless steel clip goes into the groove and you screw them down so the screws are unseen between the deck boards.

I checked the prices of both the tiger wood and the clips and it wasn't as bad as regular IPE and tiger claws. my lumber yard stocks IPE and I'm not sure if we want to carry another product, but I've had some interest since i brought a sample piece in. like my yard in michigan, they'd be faced with some sort of transportation cost for small lots unless they brought it in by the truck load. In general, you would have to buy it from a lumberyard and they in turn find a distributer who carries it.

I have aready used them, on a deck section as seen here. (http://home.comcast.net/~roger.hamm/Deck/hammdeck.html) I screwed this up by having gaps too wide due to warped boards :(. I have since bought a bow-wrench to solve that problem on my next Ipe deck (which will be my porch).

I bought the Ipe clip's here (http://trimscrew.com/BITS.htm) and they worked fine. They are labor intensive, due to the slot cutting and pre-drilling, but so far, they have held up well.

A friend of mine has a tiger wood deck. I have yet to see it. She is having issues with stain (another thread not yet started).

I received this response from Tigerclaw via an email inquiry:

As long as your porch is well ventilated and primarily free of moisture from the ground, this (Tigerclaw Clips) should hold up well. The problem with the exotic hardwoods is that they have the tendency to over expand with constant exposure to ground moisture – Leaving the problem of ‘popping’ off the boards

I have my sample box at home now. I will try some of these and see if I have the same bending experience as you have noted.

Thanks for the heads-up.

-Roger

I had the sample pack and tried a couple of them. 2 out of 2 did not bend. I had better luck using a pine 2x4 as a block to smash against than using a chunk of Ipe. The Ipe was so hard that it bounced. Interesting splintering pattern though...

I did not have any trouble sinking the first side in with a regular hammer. It was harder to pound in the 2nd board due to the bounce. Once in, it looks fine.

I am concerned with boards popping as the screw for this system does not penetrate the deck board, only the joist.

My wife insisted that we use them, thinking the work would be less than our experience with the Ipe clip (see prior post). Also she likes the fact that they are stainless and not plastic.

So, we have 4 boxes on the way...

I will update the post after the first box.

The Tiger Claw appear to work as advertised - with some caveats.

Installing the first portion of the tiger claw is easier than I thought. I couple of whacks with the hammer and it sets in well.

However, the next board is supposed to be pounded into the first, and that is where the trouble begins.

First of all, you have to use a big sledge. 5 pounds will not cut it,

Secondly, not all the Ipe boards are straight. Using a bow-wrench to straighten them while pounding the bent board into the clip is extremely difficult. At some points I had to use a bottle jack. The straighter the board the easier it is.

Third, since the Tiger claw design does not have a screw go through the decking, as you compress a board, the back of it tends to rise. I have whacked a few back down with the sledge and one of the deck boards splintered on the bottom.

All-in-all I find that the product would probably work best with soft, straight material.

Compared to Ipe Clips, I think that I prefer the clips over Tiger Claw. The installation time is about the same, but the Tiger Claw is physically more demanding due to the warped boards. Additionally, s the Ipe Clip has the screw go through the deck board, chances of a board pop are less, and I don't have to worry about applying too much pressure on warped boards (as above).