Installing the Titan Post Anchor to Ipe Hardwood Posts
Mark form New Brunswick……………….
You recently sent me 15 post anchors and guide kit with titan hole cutter. Unfortunately installation into IPE is not going smoothly at all. I drill the first part as instructed and just went and got a $25 messenger 1.25 bit, came back and removed 1.7/8 the first part and went to do the second pass with the hole cutter only to find out that the collar base of the titan hole cutter is BIGGER than 1.25 so I can not cut any deeper than what I originally have cut. I could spend $28 more and get a larger messenger bit but if you have used a messenger bit before you will know it is not really possible to go up one size when a hole has been drilled out. What can you do about this situation?
Response from Titan Post Anchor…………………
Ipe is one of the hardest woods there is. There are hardwood instructions as part of the instruction guide and there is a video on the site that shows how I install it using Cumaru, almost identical to Ipe.
For most hard woods you have to use a Forstner bit after the first hole saw pass and remove about 1.25″to 1.5″ of the core and then do another pass with the hole saw so that the saw cuts a total depth of 3.25″ – in the case of Ipe – close to the full lenght of the tube – 3.5″.
This is because you can not easily hammer anything into this wood. Everything has to be predrilled. In this respect, the anchor does not install in the way it is intended to be installed for the vast majority of uses – with normal density woods like pine, cedar and perhaps hemlock. It is designed to pierce the entire solid core of the post, not having a hollowed out bore.
With normal density wood extra strength and rigidity is derived from the tube piercing the solid wood and the friction that is attributed to the tube surface. So you would lose strength in normal density wood by removing the core as the out walls would be all that is holding it together.
This concern is reduced substantially when you use Ipe because even though the walls are thinner with the core removed the wood is still so dense that is makes up a lot if not entirely because of that.
You must predrill the holes for the lag screws also or you will likely torque the heads off.
Keep in mind the forstner bit must be not bigger than the diameter of the tube 1.25″ diameter. This is stated in the instructions. DO NOT drill a larger diameter hole. This completely defeats the purpose in intended installation benefits of the device.
Lastly, for these kind of installations I have developed a new custome barrel bolt that we will be marketing as Thunder Bolts. They are 5/16″ diameter with low profile domed pan heads with #3 square drive heads. They go through the post and tube and ensure the wood can never split up the grain even under extreme load.
I can send you some no charge when they arrive in the next couple weeks. They are black dacromet plated, a very high quality finish and made of 1020 steel.
