Stimpson 4GWSSM100 Sheet Metal Grommet and Washer Marine Grade Stainless Steel Durable, Reliable, Heavy-Duty #4 Set (100 Pieces)

Long story short: these are amazing quality, way bigger and stronger than the cheap grommet sets you can buy on Amazon, but that unfortunately means that they are also impossible to set, so be aware you might not even be able to use these. You’re going to need a BIG hammer and a setting tool that costs more than the grommets, you’re much better off with brass or smaller size than 1/2”.Longer version: I was making a three-panel awning, and I was mostly concerned about the fabric lasting. It never even occurred to me to worry about grommets until my first panel was done and up and I learned the hard way that the cheap sets on Amazon are plain steel that rusts inside of a week if outdoors! Thank goodness I still had two panels to go!!So far my next two panels I went back to the drawing board, searching Amazon for stainless steel grommets, and I ended up with these ones from Stimpson because they have the same half inch internal diameter as the cheap ones so I figured (oops) they’d be similar and I could use the tool that came with cheap set. NOPE! These are half inch inside like the cheap sets, but outside diameter is over an inch, and they are just so so SOOOOO much thicker and stronger than the cheap ones. Like a baggie with 10 of these in it will weigh more and take up more space than 100 of the cheap small ones in your typical cheap amazon set. It’s crazy how much beefier these are, which unfortunately means they take insane amounts of force to set.And the more importantly, the tool I had which had come with the chips that did not fit these. Oops! So now I’m stuck with a bag of big grommets and I figure OK I’ve got to buy the better tool, so I got the only one on amazon, made by Osborne. But no matter how hard I hit it, I couldn’t even get these to bend, much less set.These are amazing, but I can tell you without even knowing what you are working on, that these #4 stainless grommets are probably overkill for your project. I bought the #4 tool from Osborne (because Stimpson tool on their site is so pricey), and I couldn’t set these stainless ones even with a small sledge hammer. They’re just so so so strong and hard to set, you’d need a better tool than you can buy on amazon. And they’re overkill unless you’ve got only one corner with which to hold down a tarp in a tornado, and even then I would not get these stainless #4’a because you probably won’t be able to set them well enough and they’ll just rip out anyways due to your weak hammering.(No offense to anyone reading this. I figure if you are Reading grommet reviews on Amazon you are probably somewhat of a newbie like me, and therefore you don’t understand just how crazy strong and powerful grommets of the size and material are. I’m a 200 pond dude with a 4-lb sledge hammer and I couldn’t do these, at least with the Osborne tool.)At this point I now have grommets I could not use with the tool I had. Stimpson told me I should buy their tool instead, but since that’s around 100 bucks I didn’t want to throw even more money after bad in case I just wasn’t equipped to hit these hard enough without an industrial anvil or hammer setup, so instead I opted to get #4 brass grommets instead, plated with nickel, which Stmpson assured me would not rust and would be way easier to set. I’m really glad I did because those are actually soft enough that I can set them with a few sledgehammer blows.If I was starting from scratch, my advice is to go with a smaller size grommet, and use brass or nickel plated brass unless you are 100% sure you definitely definitely need these massive stainless ones. Even with brass, #4’s take several hard blows with a heavy hammer, and I was holding the tool with pliers so that in case I missed I wouldn’t shatter my hand. Because that metal is freaking tough.And if you have any questions, contact Stimpson and tell them what you’re working on, because they are super friendly and will help you out. Like they are so awesome. Just be aware that you’ll end up spending more money on the tool than the grommets but it will be worth it.

pure crap

Exactly what I needed.