Help a newbie?

[bobelk99]

I just found the forum, so a newbie I am.

I have a couple of old barns on which I wish to make various repairs. Carpentry of this nature is new to me.

There will be much drilling and screwing involving old seasoned oak lumber. This will include fastening old 2" lumber to 6-8 inch posts using lag screws, or sometimes drilling through the lumber and using bolt fasteners.

I am seeking guidance on what drill/drill type to obtain to make the work easier. I am familiar with Dewalt and am considering the DCD950KX kit.

I know very little, and would appreciate any guidance/suggestion.

Additional question: In looking at 1/4" impact wrenches, I find all seem to have a hex driver head, like for a screwdriver blade, rather than a socket stub. Why is this?

Thanks

Bob

[Eric - TIA]

A barn project sounds cool. Would like to see some pictures. The DCD950KX is a nice kit, but it is a NiCad version which is heavier and the run time isn't as good as a Lithium-ion version. Dewalt makes a 20V max that is Lithium which is very nice. Milwaukee and Bosch also have very nice drills that would work great. Milwaukee has an 18V that is brushless, but puts out 725 lbs of torque which will give you more power, plus it is Lithium. Bosch has an 18V drill that puts out 700 in-lbs of torque that is also very powerful. If you are just getting in carpentry, I would go with a Lithium, much nicer. They are lighter, longer run time and don't have a power fade. Plus manufacturers are all designing new tools for the Lithium lines, so you will have an easier time adding on in the future.

In regards to the impact, you might be accidentally looking up impact drivers which have the screw or hex head like your talking about. A lot of companies have this. An impact wrench should have the socket stub. I did the same thing when I was first looking around. Google and some of the other search engines will throw both at you when you look up impact wrench. Some companies do have both and will call the hex head a impact wrench, such as Hitachi. When you search, just use the key work square head. Like square impact wrench.

Let me know if you have any other questions and would be interested in seeing the before and after pictures.