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"Bikes are a great way to get around Seattle."  We Need Your Help!
Ever borrow a tool from your neighbor?
Ever wish they had a better selection?
Sustainable West Seattle has won a grant from the City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods and has set up a tool lending library. You can find out more information or check out our inventory!
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By Christina Hahs
Dehydrators are great tools because they are so versatile. Drying can reduce large amounts of food into more manageable amounts. Drying also helps you preserve food without investing ..continue reading By Patrick Dunn
There’s a beautiful image that comes to mind when you think of an old woodworker in his shop, shaving off a paper thin slice of red cedar with a jack plane as the wood burning stove in the corner helps heat up a kettle of coffee for break time. This picturesque scene surely still takes place here in Seattle but often there are a few modern conveniences thrown in to alter that nostalgic vision and maybe add a little noise and dust ..continue reading
By Patrick Dunn Some folks have a downright fear of drilling through masonry, even if it’s just to hang a picture. Though largely irrational, it’s still understandable. After all, masonry can eat drill bits, especially if you use the wrong kind. And the actual drilling often takes forever, especially if you use the wrong drill. That’s why it’s almost a heavenly experience when a person finally picks up a hammer drill and a masonry bit and realizes that the job is actually a ..continue reading By Patrick Dunn Have you ever needed a piece of wood to be just a wee bit thinner for your project? Hardware and lumber stores will never be able to carry every thickness of wood. If you need anything outside their range of options, then you’re going either to have to fork over a couple more bucks to have the piece custom milled or you’re going to have to do a little woodwork yourself. Luckily, thickness planers make this work pretty simple. A thickness planer allows you to work a board down ..continue reading By Amanda Leonard One of the most popular and heavily used power tools is the hand held circular saw. You’ve probably seen them on just about every do-it-yourself show out there. Believe it or not, stationary circular saws have actually been around since the late 1770’s, though they weren’t available in a hand held form until 1923. The basic circular saw uses a rotating blade to make relatively straight cuts across a piece of material. Though the hand held version is the type most people think of when circular saw is mentioned, ..continue reading by Patrick Dunn Some tools just stand the test of time, regardless of technological advances. The brace, in all its simplicity, is one of those modern tool dinosaurs. First developed sometime in the 15th century, the manual brace hasn’t really changed much over all those years. Aside from its transition to steel, the only real advance has probably been the introduction of a ratchet mechanism somewhere along the line that allowed a user to maximize the tool’s torque when operating in a cramped environment. The brace is composed of a U-shaped crank ..continue reading by Micah Summers At The West Seattle Tool Library, we’ve been thankful and fortunate to receive a large number of unique donations, from brand-new tools to obscure, vintage items. Today I’m writing about a tool donation that came to us nearly unused, a Porter Cable profile sander. If you’ve ever tried to refinish a piece of old furniture or prepare fine woodworking for that gorgeous finish coat, then you’ve likely discovered that most power sanders aren’t too useful when it comes to the small details. The profile sander is a multi-function sander ..continue reading By Micah Summers
At The West Seattle Tool Library, we’ve been thankful and fortunate to receive a large number of unique donations. Over the last year, we’ve received everything from 100 year-old, vintage tools to those that have barely been touched. Today, I’m writing about one of our many relatively unique tools, the draw knife, which is a tool for wood carving. A long (typically 6-12″) blade is secured between two handles. The user pulls, or draws, the knife towards himself along a rough log or long piece of wood. Common uses ..continue reading |
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Copyright © 2012 Sustainable West Seattle - All Rights Reserved |
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