Start Your Own Tool-Sharing Program

Image Gallery Courtesy Atlanta Community Tool Bank

By Dave Wortman

There's nothing like having just the right tools to help make your projects go smoothly. But, tools can be a big investment for homeowners. When money is tight, tool costs can make or break a project. And often, we only need that 20-foot ladder once a year to clean the gutters. Many table saws sit idle in the garage for months at a time.

Some neighborhoods and communities across the country have discovered a better way—tool sharing. It's an idea that's alive and well, from small housing cooperatives in rural areas to lending programs in large cities. And many people are finding that, in addition to making economic sense, tool sharing offers a way to simplify life and create community, pulling together neighbors to exchange ideas, skills and a helping hand.

THE ROOTS OF TOOL SHARING

Many of today's thriving tool-sharing programs grew out of the cooperative movement of the 1970s, which spawned a proliferation of co-ops, from food to housing and energy. Tool-sharing promotes many cooperative core values: self-help, self-responsibility, equality and solidarity.

Today's tool-sharing and lending programs range from small, informal arrangements among neighbors to large operations supporting thousands of community volunteers. They include tools for carpentry, landscaping, woodworking and car repair, and are housed in homes, community wood shops, libraries, neighborhood centers and even warehouses. And you'll find the programs supporting all walks of life, from single working mothers to farmers living off the land.

Roger Faris knows the economic value of tool-sharing programs well. He's spent the last 25 years running Seattle's Well Home Program, which includes a tool bank. The program began in the wake of devastating impacts on the city from Boeing layoffs in the early 1970s.

"People were really struggling," Faris says. His program is in an old elementary school building and loans out carpentry tools; it was an immediate hit and continues to thrive, loaning tools and how-to books to Seattle residents for donations.

In Grand Rapids, Mich., the Home Repair Services tool-sharing program has provided critical support to poorer residents for a quarter-century. Lending carpentry tools to people with an average income of $18,000 or less, the program helps its users realize the dream of home ownership. "It's become wildly popular," says Dave Jacobs, executive director. "We were shocked to find so many self-reliant people." In the last year, Jacobs says the program made more than 4,000 individual tool loans, many to single mothers and senior citizens.

BUILDING COMMUNITY

Beyond its economic practicalities, tool sharing has become an integral part of the growing cohousing movement (see "It Takes an Ecovillage," June/July 2003). At the Boulder, Colo., Wild Sage Cohousing project, which is under construction, toolsharing is an integral component of the community. Architect and resident Bryan Bowen says Wild Sage will include a shared wood shop to support residents' hobbies, foster interaction and help build self-reliance. The shop will support a wide range of activities, from jewelry making and car repair to woodworking. "One of my favorite aspects of it is teaching adults and kids self-reliance," says Bowen. "It's a great way to create community."