Yesterday, Berta and I spent all day putting together Riley’s crib. When we got Abby’s real bed, we took apart the crib and somehow misplaced the hardward that held it together. As it turns out, it used a lot of specialized stuff.
There were these crazy bolts with hex heads and a large flat top. They were very long and sunk into odd little nuts that were inserted into holes in the crib frame. We lost these bolts, and could not find replacements.
Berta ordered some replacements from the manufacturer, but they don’t sell this particular crib any more, so the hardware they sent didn’t match. Mom ordered some bolts for us from Rockler, but the longest bolt they had was not long enough. I ended up ordering more of these and drilling new holes into the crib frame to hold them.
Then we needed washers because some of the new nuts were too close for the length of the bolts. And then we realized that we didn’t have a hex driver that could screw in the bolts, so I got a set of those. And then we needed screws to hold the gate on. And then we needed more screws to hold the gate on than we realized. And then the springframe needed a different screw than the ones we needed for the gate. I couldn’t take the fifth trip to Home Depot - I had to send Berta.
So finally the crib is assembled and sturdy. And I have a more complete toolbox. Added to my collection of tools yesterday were handheld English and metric hex drivers, hex drivers for the drill, a case for all of the new hex drivers, a case containing large drill bits (we used the 3/8 and 1-inch bits to open some holes for the wider bolt heads in the crib), a staple gun (for a different project I need complete before Friday), a screw/bolt/nut/pipe-measuring doodad, and a ton of 1/4-inch washers.
How do you like the results of our labor?
