Cepco Tool BW-2 BoWrench Decking Tool, Red (2)

Useful and effective for many applications.

I bought standard #2 grade pressure treated pine to replace my top deck boards. (2x6”, 16’ long)I wish that I had purchased a higher grade lumber that was straight to begin with. However, thanks to this tool I was able to correct crooked lumber and secure deck boards that were properly spaced and look very nice. This tool was very easy to use, took just a short time to get the hang of it, and was greatly helpful.

A couple of years ago I faced a dilemma - my cedar deck was starting to rot in places, the previous owner (who built the deck) painted the boards, which also made maintenance a nightmare.I got quotes from contractors to rebuild my deck which were insane. Composite, cedar, whatever, it was a very high number. Then I looked into doing it myself. The base of the deck was solid, but the deck boards, railing and skirting needed to be replaced, at a materials cost of around 25-33% of what was quoted to me. I decided to go cedar again, but ensure that the boards were spaced correctly and I would use stain instead of paint.With the bowrench I felt I was able to tackle the job. I also needed a few other tools - sawzall for demolition, 2 cordless drills (one with bit, one with driver bit), compound miter saw, pocket jig, table saw and a planer (due to some angles in the way the deck was constructed I needed to thin down some 2x4s).I'm somewhat handy but NOT a pro. I was able to resurface a 15x30 deck (including stairs) over a couple months working an hour or 2 each night after work plus around 8 hours each weekend, by myself.Because I took my time I was generally able to hand-pick decking boards, but when you're dealing with cedar of 12+ foot lengths, even dry cedar, it's virtually impossible to get them totally straight. With the bowrench it really didn't matter. Just make sure you use a spacing tool to ensure a consistent gap.I don't think that I could have done the job without this tool, and it's probably the best $60 I have ever invested. Is it perfect? No, because there were a few places where it was harder to hook on to the joist but aside from that it worked extremely well.There's nothing like the satisfaction of a job well done, and many thousands of dollars saved!

We are in the process of replacing a 20+ year old pressure treated pine tongue and groove front porch with pre-grooved cumaru wood boards and hidden clips.The clip system we're using does spacing automatically because the clips are kind of t-shaped, so if you mallet the boards in place tightly, you end up with a pretty consistent gap between each board. As tends to happen though, some boards are not perfectly straight, and you might get one end of the board perfectly gapped while the other end is a quarter inch or more out. In this case you've got a few choices. You can just try to gap the boards out so it doesn't look terrible, you can get a friend to push on the board with something while you screw it down, or you can screw a piece of scrap wood to the joists and pry your new wood into place off of the scrap while you screw it down. Option 1 won't look right no matter how you try, option 2 will make your friend tired, and option 3 might require a lot of installing and removing the scrap board if you've got a bunch of crooked wood.Along comes this BoWrench with another option! It's a long handle with two short rotating bars on the end. You place one over the joist and one on the wood you're installing. When you pull on the handle, it levers off of the joist and the one bar pulls your wood up tight into place. If you pull it far enough, it will lock in place and hold the board tight so you can screw or nail it down. It's not quite like having an extra pair of hands but makes it much easier to do decking by yourself.The wrench itself is a couple feet long and feels solid. It's coated in a safety orange paint and the handle has a slight arc in it to bring it up off the decking so you can get your hand underneath. At the end are two holes for the rotating bars. One has two prongs for gripping the joist and the other is a flat bar for pushing or pulling. You can switch them around and they just go through the holes in the handle and secure with cotter pins. One configuration is for pushing and the other is for pulling. My experience was that pulling is more effective, but you may be limited by the space you have to work with.Speaking of experience, it's not horrible but is a little tricky to use this wrench. If you put the joist gripper too far from your board, the handle will swing weakly and not pull your board enough. If you put it too close, you will have to apply super strength and probably can't move the handle far enough to lock in place. This leads to a bit of trial and error, though you'll eventually get a feel for placement if you have to do enough boards. There's also a tendency for the wrench to pull the board in AND up, which is not what you want because you want the board to sit flat on the joist. I've had to stand on the board while installing it to get it back down, and this sometimes pops the bowrench loose. The last thing worth noting is that if you apply joist tape or other protectant and use the bowrench on top, there's a good chance you'll mar or tear the tape (an earlier review mentions this and has photos). You could just not tape beyond the piece you're wrenching. I've just dealt with it and taped over any tears that happen since my tape is thin and not crazy expensive. Be aware that this particular wrench is for standard 2x4 joists and flat sided boards but they do sell a universal one for other joists or tongue and groove boards.Overall this is a specialized tool but super handy. It's also way more affordable than other similar "hardwood wrench" products (one I saw was $200!) If you're doing a porch or deck product, consider picking up a BoWrench before you start.

Great tool for laying deck boards.

Installing our home's deck I was frustrated with the pressure treated, 18' long 2 x 6 decking that was curved, twisted, warped, cupped, and every board was a constant struggle using a Capco flooring jack, wood working clamps and 3-1/2" SS screws. Halfway through a 300 sq. ft. deck I found this little gem and took a chance on it. Seemed a little frail, but it isn't. It did the job and I was able to work alone installing the final 150 sq. ft. of the 18 ft. long, full 2x6 treated decking, with a decent 1/8" gap. It does take some finesse in how you use it so that the gap you are working on does not change the prior and future gaps. But that is easily overcome with some practice. This tool works well and I had zero issues with it. Some say it slips but that only happened to me when it was not properly positioned. With two people you can work faster with one installing screws and one using this tool but it works well enough I was able to successfully work alone when extra help was not available. Excellent tool!