My wife and I were looking at patio sets for our deck and after searching for one we liked we decided to purchase it. A four piece set came in one small box and I knew that I was going to have some work to do, putting it together. As you would expect with most four piece sets of anything furniture
related you are looking at a price tag upwards of a thousand dollars for
some nice pieces, and it's my opinion that the tools should match the
product.
As with most things that you buy and have to put together yourself, the package of course came with an instruction manual and it's own tools, in this case, a bunch of hexagonal allen key nuts and one allen key.
The instruction manual had terrible pictures, and was very brief, I actually couldn't tell what one picture was depicting as it was all in one color (if black and white is a color) and looked like an origami design. I muddled through and figured out what to do, as I am pretty handy and can figure out most things.
Now to the hardware and the tools, The allen key bolts are made from a terrible type of metal, one that deforms and stretches if too much force is applied. The key itself was stronger but small, and I have to wonder what the hell the manufacturer is thinking when they decide that this was a good design choice.
If you have ever tried to use an L shaped allen key that can't make a full rotation on fine threaded bolts in a small area, you will know true frustration, the key has to fit perfectly in the head, and be straight up and down for it to work properly, if it doesn't the cheap as f**k bolts will strip and you won't be able to tighten them or remove them from their tiny area. If you do get a perfect fit, you might get a quarter turn before you have to remove the cheap ass tool and do it all over again, get a perfect fit one hundred times without fail on one bolt, and the good news is that you have thirty bolts to line up and tighten. A good thing to do before you start would be to have a few stiff drinks, to calm the nerves.
This system of crappy tools being shipped with expensive furniture or appliances needs to change, it happens if you buy a barbecue, desk, bed frame, patio furniture and whatever else that you have to put together. It is the exact reason I will not go to IKEA for anything, ever.
Scott Goerz
