5 Foot Cedar Porch Glider, Amish Crafted

I just got this assembled, and it's on the patio. It's a nice piece of furniture. The wood is cut square, and sanded smooth. No snags or splinters.The assembly went well. The instructions are written in american english. The photos are clear and with enough detail to see what needs to be done. The sequence of the instructions are in the correct order. The instructions, while not exactly step-by-step, are certainly concise enough that a person of average intelligence can follow them. The hardware included with the glider is of good quality: the glider arms themselves have bearings at each end making for a silent swing. Except for the glider bolts themselves (which have ny-lock nuts) there is no lock-washers included. I went around and put a drop of blue loctite (medium strength) on the remaining bolts prior to final tightening. This is assembled with plated carriage bolts and nuts, making for a clean appearance.All the holes in the pieces are in the correct places, there was minimal wrestling to get it together. I assembled this by myself, altho another set of hands to maneuver the larger sub-assemblies would have come in handy. One needs to obtain a square-drive bit or screwdriver to assemble this. There are 8 - 3" screws, with square-drive heads, to be driven. Altho the wood is soft, and there are pilot holes, a power-driver of some kind makes things easier. I used just a regular electric drill, easy-peasy. Also needed are 2 wrenches - 1/2" and 7/16". Open end wrenches will work, but ratcheting wrenches will make the job much quicker. A small hammer for knocking in the bolts helps too.All told, a very nice product (at a very good price), with simple assembly. I would very much recommend this glider.

We love our new glider. It looks great, it's sturdy and the glider action is smooth and quiet. The glider arrived partially assembled into the base, bottom, back, arms -- which then had to be put together with a square-fit screwdriver (we had one). The package arrived in a few days; the glider parts were 100% complete, nicely packed/no damage. The finishing and assembly presented no problems. The glider is comfortable enough as is, but I bought a 2'x 5' memory foam bathroom runner, which is a perfect fit length-wise and can be placed to cushion both bum and lower back (looks nice, stays put and it's washable; economical and easier to maintain versus more expensive outdoor cushions). What a way to enjoy a nice seasonal sunset!Update: We got this in June 2012, and as of September 2020 -- Still loving it! Still riding smooth and quiet. We cover it for the NJ winter months with a nice sturdy cover from Amazon (Classic Accessories Veranda Sofa/Loveseat Cover - Small), but it's always outside under our covered porch -- and still looks great.

I love my Father's Day present, this beautiful glider. It's just what I would expect from Amish craftsmanship - rugged, sturdy, attractive, simple and functional. Assembly required a bit of coaxing in places, but that's what is expected from a well-made glider shipped in pieces so it's in as small a package as possible to save on shipping costs. I didn't finish it, and don't plan to, so a nice bonus is the cedar smell on our back screen porch, especially after a rainfall. The people who complain about minor blemishes in their reviews need to shop elsewhere, maybe something made out of particle board in a factory in China?

You only have to assemble twelve things (counting the four swing bars), and it took me all of 57 minutes to do the job. (I started the clock after I had gathered the required tools and pulled everything from the box.) The instructions were OK, though I think a parts list up front would be useful to help distinguish among various bolt sizes. Some reviewers said you needed two people to attach the back, seat and arms; but I found it easy to do by myself.The back and seat come preassembled, each have 4 framing boards to which the slats were glued and screwed for you. They are positioned so that the framing boards of the seat slide adjacently over the framing boards of the back so that you can bolt these frame boards together. On my glider these boards had a rather sloppy 3/16" clearance. I probably should have used some of my own washers to fill the gap, but I decided to just cinch down the bolts and force the faces of these frame boards together. This resulted in a little glue cracking on the seat and back slats nearest to the bolts, but these slats were otherwise undamaged and still quite secure because they were also screwed down. I can understand why they might want to give a little clearance just to make sure that with shrinkage the framing clears, but I think they've provided too much slop. This defect resulted in the loss of a star.The wood was high quality with only a few tiny knots on the larger pieces. I will be doing a little hand sanding here and there, but most surfaces I thought were good enough for out-door furniture and ready to stain as is.I read one review of the pre-stained version of this same glider, saying that the swing hardware didn't clear the base and the thing grinded when you tried to swing on it. I think that person must have put the swing bars on backwards as there is a good half inch of clearance between the swing bolts, and the bench and base. There is very little give laterally if you try to force the glider to swing sidewise. There is really no way to get the thing to inappropriately rub when you're using it.I think I'd like it better if the seat were perhaps an inch higher off the ground to fit my long legs (36" inseam), but it's probably sized right for most people.For the money, I think this glider is fantastic. I'm quite pleased.