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I have even more than that. We regularly replace furniture at work and I end up with so many cheap tools. Once a year I put them in a box, hang a free take one sign and place it out front. It takes a day or two but they leave. Most likely it in their glove box in the car. They are not however in my office anymore.
I keep them all in the hope that some day I can have someone forge a lifetime of Allen wrenches into a Damascus steel battle-axe
As long as it has a massive IKEA logo embossed (or with filigree) on there somewhere, you have my vote.
I feel like there should be some quotes in there. Damascus “Steel”
For a minute I thought you were throwing shade at Damascus steel but then I realized that those Allen Wrenches are probably made of aluminum.
Nah my wife loves Forged in Fire too much for me to dare criticize Damascus, its way too cold in my neck of the woods to spend a night in the dog house… And we don’t have a dog house.
I have so many high quality hex wrenches now from work. I do not want the cheap ones, but I still feel bad throwing them away.
Just be aware that those flatpack furniture wrenches are made from quite soft material. If you try to use them on, say, the rear brake rotor bolts on a 2007 Triumph Rocket III, both the wrench and the bolt will be ruined, you’ll have to go to the hardware store to get a proper hardened steel tool, end up having to reuse the damaged bolt anyway, damaging it more in the process, and leaving it for the next guy to figure out. The next guy is me, but I hate that guy, so it’s fine.
Everyone knows you can only use the wrenches on the front brake rotor bolts of a 2007 Triumph Rocket III. What an embarrassment.
I forgot about the part where you take your little bike to the hardware store and it melts the top end on the way back and you have to push it home. And also the part about how cylinders for it are unobtanium.
1985 Yamaha Riva 125 XC125N if you have any leads on top end parts. Yes, I already saw the $425 new old stock one on eBay. No the later model cylinders will not work.
I did a winter project with a friend, rebuilding an original Trident rolling basket. He had always wanted one. I have never hated any motorcycle as much as that one. We finish it, the snow melts, it runs great, sounds awesome, rides like shit, he loved it anyway. It lasted a full 11 days before it sheared a wristpin and launched a piston through the head.
Im sure that’s just mechanical but it reads as something more painful and possibly deadly
Everything I see is West Coast.
Did you see this one on Craigslist in Kernville/Bakersfield, CA area: https://bakersfield.craigslist.org/for/d/kernville-yamaha-riva-scooter-125cc/7854641887.html
Or this one in the Echo Park / Los Angeles area: https://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/mpo/d/los-angeles-yamaha-riva/7864964766.html
Or this really, really cool-looking one in Oakland: https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/mcy/d/oakland-1985-yamaha-riva-180/7863873317.html
Or this one for parts in Seattle: https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/zip/d/seattle-for-parts-yamaha-riva-xc180n/7864979997.html
Should have bought a KTM. Every fastener has both torx and hex so you can strip each bolt twice!
Sort of similar story for me, although not with one of these spare wrenches. I installed a new steering damper on a 2014 Ducati 899. I wasn’t able to get enough clearance for the torque wrench when installing it, so I used an extender. I don’t know what exactly happened, but I ended up stripping the bolt. At least it’s torqued correctly for now, and as an added bonus, with blue loctite! I feel bad for the next guy who’s going to have to replace that steering damper next. It’s probably going to be me, so fuck me. In actuality, it’s likely going to involve replacing that entire steering column…Fuuuuuck
Torque wrenches take length into account in the calibration…
Well then I just suck at wrenching properly.
I’d love a picture so that I can speculate on options.
How many torques are on that?
Ideas:
- Weld a nut onto the top of it. Should be able to accomplish this with a MIG and a steady hand
- Cut a slot in the top with a rotary tool cutting wheel, use a large manual impact driver to crack it, or a dull chisel/flat punch and a hammer to tap it around (clearance might be an issue here)
- Rotary tool again, cut faces on two sides, locking pliers, turn them with channel locks
- Rotay tool yet again, cut faces on six sides, hammer a possibly sacrificial six point socket on it
I like you, you’re a good human. Saving this for if/when it needs to be replaced in the future.
Last option is rotary tool again, grind that head clean off. If there’s enough exposed shaft after the part removal then turn with vice grips. Hopefully you used brand name Loc-tite.
Otherwise its screw extract time. I suggest Micro-grabits. Only reliable option IME.
Apply some heat to the bolt with a tiny tiny torch to hopefully not damage the aluminum nearby? Should help release the threadlocker.
Invest in good quality tools. Any tool that comes in a ziplock bag usual sucks
I’ve got several of those little bastards. I feel the same way.
bro, they should be sending me metric drill bits instead. Those fucking drywall anchors they send are always in metric and I can never find my metric drill set.
They’re all the same, until they’re not. Some are extra long or specialized for the item being assembled. Sometimes they come with brothers.
I don’t know where they all go, but they’re here, somewhere.
I put together a chair for my mom and they included a consumer grade T-hex with a molded plastic and rubber handle. This was for a single $120 wooden chair. It’s now in my toolbox next to my multi size hex key tool.
I have a drawer specifically for things that tighten or loosen fasteners.
I have one of those.
It’s labeled “screw it.”
Put it, along with the documentation for whatever the thing is, and tape (packing tape works well) to the back of the thing. When it comes time to move or do something that requires the manual and/or tools, you have both the tools and documentation easily at hand and not lost in some junk drawer somewhere.
Every 10th one you add to the drawer you get a prize.
I did this with my new daybed: tucked/taped the instructions, key and extra screwthingies under the mattress, so if it’s ever moved or sold they’ll be visible as soon as you take off the mattress to start.
I like to put it all in a zipper sandwich bag together and tape that to the thing
I have a couple of them saved, but I have sets of actual tools that include Allen wrenches. So, I don’t keep most of them. I do keep the instructions with the item, though.
i love my collection. no one will take my precioussss
The absolute best thing any adult can do is buy a GOOD set of allen wrenches. Good hand feel and solid construction combined with MUCH longer levers and it makes building furniture/whatever a joy.
Bonus points if you also buy a set of cheap hex head blades for your ratcheting driver of choice.
These days? The ikea/whatever allen keys get tossed in the recycling bin faster than I can remember if those are actually recyclable.
I worked as a bike tech for a sporting goods store and replaced most of the store tools with my own. The ones they had were all the cheapest crap from ebay or Amazon or something. One of the wrenches snapped on the first group of bikes we built when the store opened.
A nice tool that feels good in the hand will pay for itself with the comfort it provides.
I had to threaten to sue them because when they fired a bunch of us and barred us from the store, they tried to say those tools belong to them even after sending them the receipts for everything. And informing them where the box of original tools went. And having to call someone still in the store to bring me out the most expensive tool there and they had the audacity to tell me that me taking it would make their jobs harder because there was no replacement for it and if I could just be reasonable they’ll have a replacement in a month so I can come back then.
Oh a good ratcheting hex set will make you question everything you thought you knew for sure.
if they could all be the same size as i need for my fruit boots (4mm i think) that would be perfect.
constantly losing those bastards.
I just have an Allen key bit set that I use with an electronic screwdriver or ratchet now. Saves a decent amount of time.
Aren’t you a smartie.
Just purged about ten of these a couple of weeks ago.
That’s when you’ll discover you need them.
It feels wrong to throw an apparently pristine tool in the trash.
Put it in the recycle bin?
I bought a set of Allen sockets years ago as well as an adapter so I can use a drill/impact with them too.
The hell with spinning that crappy little piece of metal. Right into the bin they go.
Also get either a 90 degree attachment or a right angle drill. Good for those spots when even an impact, or even sub compact impact, drill is just too big.
Most places will only accept metal items if they’re a certain size, which most allen keys almost certainly won’t meet.
For example, it looks like Seattle, (which has some of the best recycling system rates and practices in America) will only accept metal tools or scrap metal larger than 3 inches. Anything smaller than that can damage the machines they use for recycling, get diverted into the landfill stream because it can’t be sorted out, and/or slow down or stop the recycling process for other materials because it needs to be filtered out before it can make its way into the machinery that can’t handle small parts.
However, they do have drop-off options, which can take scrap of any size. So the choice is either throw it in the recycling bin and potentially damage or slow down the recycling machinery, or stash them away until you have enough to justify going to a drop-off.
I can’t recycle just any metal thing in my bin.
