Be Kind Bench Workshop - Building Recycled Bus Benches for Denver

James Warren builds bus benches out of recycled materials for the Denver Metro Area, and he just hosted his first Bench Bulling Workshop in our Community Workshop on 1/31! His group completed two benches that will allow people to take a load off while waiting for the bus.

“He saw a woman sitting in the dirt at a bus stop. So he began making benches.” -The Washington Post

James Warren is a mobility advocate in Denver who recognized one of the big issues with the transit system in the city: lack of bus stop amenities. Whether it be cover, trash disposal, or seating, bus stop amenities are crucial to the health and wellbeing of those who ride, as well as to making public transit a dignified experience. To that end, he's created benches for bus stops around the city, made from recycled materials, and is hosting the Be Kind Bench workshop to both teach the basics of woodworking as well as create new public amenities. Outfitting bus stops with benches will create a better public transit experience and shines a spotlight on where the city is failing, making this both a practical workshop and an act of advocacy. 

James has been featured in the Washington Post and the Drew Barrymore Show. You can follow him on Instagram @J_M_Warren

Unfortunately, there are no Be Kind Bench Workshop scheduled at the moment, but if you’re interested in potential future workshops, you can reach out to James.

Brand New Class! Intro to Knitting // 3.8.23

Our First Intro to Knitting Class is Wednesday, March 8th // 5:30pm - 8pm

We’ve added another brand new class to our Fiber Arts Department: Intro to Knitting with Diana!

Learn the fundamentals of knitting while making a basic scarf that you can start in class and take home to finish. Become familiar with basic techniques including casting on, casting off, and basic knitting stitches. Understand the language of knitting patterns, get yarn and needle recommendations, and gain the confidence to continue your knitting journey. No experience required.

Knitting has become the new go to art for new brain development and relaxation of the 2020’s. These classes are conducted in a friendly and inviting manner and you will come away feeling like you’ve joined a community of artisans.

Teacher Bio: Diana has been knitting for over 50 years off and on. She now calls it her passion and loves teaching beginners through advanced.

Brand New Class! Drywall: Knowing Your Home Renovation Series

Our First Drywall Class will Be: Friday, March 10th // 5:30pm - 8:30pm

We’ve added another class to our Knowing Your Home Renovation Series, and this one is covers the exciting art of drywall! It will be another home improvement class with our hilarious and super knowledgeable resident home guy David Cooke. He will cover installing, repairing, patching, cutting, taping, mudding, and sanding sheetrock, as well as what tools from the Tool Library you’ll need to do it all yourself.

Sold out

Drywall: Knowing Your Home Renovation Class // 3.10.23

$100.00

Friday, March 10th // 5:30pm - 8:30pm

• Prerequisites: None

• Class Capacity: 12

• Materials Provided?: Yes

• Age Limit: All Ages (guardian required if under 18)

• Partner Ticket Available?: No (info)

• Available for a Private Class?: Yes (info)

• Clothing/Equipment Requirements?: None

*This class is part of our Knowing Your Home Series. See what other upcoming classes we offer in the series here.

Alternative Title: "If These Walls Could Talk. The Joy of Drywall Repair."

Drywall installation, repair, and re-texturing is a fun satisfying skill. And, it is surprisingly easy to learn. With the right tools, some simple tips, and a bucket of "mud", you can finish new walls and ceilings or repair and revitalize existing walls. Say goodbye to ugly cracks and hideous patches.

We will learn how to cut and install sheetrock, how to "tape" and finish joints, nails, and corners, and how to disguise repairs by blending and matching existing textures such as "knockdown", "stomp", and "swirl." We will learn to repair existing cracks and holes of all sizes. Repairs both large and small will disappear into the background and you will save hundreds of dollars in the process.

Students will see tons of real examples of the processes, tools, and materials close-up. Students will also have a limited opportunity for individual hand-on practice. You will leave with the confidence and skills to tackle any drywall repair.

David Cooke taught home repair classes for twelve years. He wrote articles on home repair and improvement for a local magazine and appeared weekly on a television program in Boston as the "Resident Home Repair Guy" for two years. David ran his own home repair and improvement business for most of the last 30 years.

What People Say about Dave’s Classes….

"David was hilarious. Also I feel much more confident."

"Incredible amount of information and practice for 3 hours without feeling overwhelming."

"Instructor was fantastic, kept the jokes coming and made the time fly by!"

"Instructor was very knowledgeable and engaging"

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*If this class is sold out and there is an open class at a later date, sign up for the later class and we will offer you a free transfer if this class becomes available. If you want to know when new dates are announced or would like to know about newly available open spots for sold out classes, join our Classes Newsletter.

Purchase

Five Easy Ways to Help the Denver Tool Library

We don’t all have time to be a regular volunteer and we aren’t all rich beyond our wildest dreams, so here’s five super easy ways to help us out (if you’re rich beyond your wildest dreams, skip this article and click here).

Way One: Amazon Smile

Look, we all know Amazon isn't great. We’re not trying to convince you to use Amazon if you don't already, BUT if you do, they have a program called Amazon Smile where we get a small percent of every one of your purchases. It's easy to sign up.

1. Make THIS your new bookmark for Amazon shopping. It’s Amazon SMILE which is important.

2. Sign in there with your regular account info and select a charity, which might I highly recommend the Denver Tool Library?

3. As long as you start shopping from that new bookmark, anything you buy makes Bezos have to shell out some fraction of some clams to the DTL. Yay.

Way TWO: King Soops

King Soopers has a program similar to Amazon where they kick a non-profit of your choice a small percent of all of your purchases. If you get groceries/ gas/ beer there on the reg, consider putting our name on your account.

1. Create an account at their website. It's quick - you can skip the little setup wizard that comes second if ya want.

2. Go to this Community Rewards page of your Account Dashboard and search for Denver Tool Library.

3. Click enroll. Easy peasy! Now a really mathematically obscure percentage of your spending will be donated to the DTL! Hoorah!

WAY THREE: LEAVE A 5 STAR REVIEW ON GOOGLE

Not into those shoppy choices of how to help? Leave us a Google review. It’s super helpful in convincing people who say “wtf is a tool library” that we are cool and they should take a chance and try us out.

WAY FOUR: TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW THAT WE’RE AWESOME.

Tell your friends how much we’ve helped you! Tag us in stories about your project or just be that annoying "crypto bro" but instead of crypto talk about what a cool concept a tool library is.

WAY FIVE: SEND us a couple buckS.

And who can’t forget the last easy way to help - Venmoing us a few bucks @denvertoollibrary, or kicking a tax-deductible donation our way! For those who have the means, even a little money can go a long way in repairing/buying tools and subsizing memberships for people/orgs.

THANK YOU, YAY, GOOD JOB, WOOHOO!!

Updated: DTL Financial Assistance

We’ve made Financial Assistance for Tool Library Memberships and Classes easier to apply for than ever (Open Workshop Hours coming soon)!

We only have a small bit of funding at the moment, but we are always looking for grants and donors to contribute to our Financial Assistance Fund. As that fund grows, we will update these new pages to reflect who we can help and how much assistance people and organizations may able to receive.

If you would like to learn more about these programs, check out our updated Tool Library Financial Assistance page and our updated Classes Financial Assistance page.

Colorado Village Collaborative - Red Vest Day 2022

We are Raising Prices a Bit on 2/15. Lock In Our Current Prices Before Then!

It’s time for the DTL to raise some prices a bit to keep up with the times. Tool Library Memberships and Open Workshop Hours are going to be adjusted so we can continue to pay our staff fair wages and keep up with rising costs (see below). Classes will stay the same.

The good news is, the increase for a Standard Individual Membership is only an extra $2.50 per month (is that even a cup of coffee anymore?). Hopefully that’s a small impact on your end,* and it adds up to a big impact on ours. With this extra income we'll be able to do a lot to keep the DTL community strong, including....

• Increase wages for the librarians and shop monitors you know and love.

• Hire skilled staff to repair/maintain our heavily used tool inventory.

• Keep up with this year’s rent increase, plus the rising cost of utilities, tools, and supplies.

• Continue providing discounted and free memberships for low income folks and local organizations doing important work in our community.

*If these new prices are a strain to your economic situation, you can apply for Financial Assistance on our website.

You can also lock in our current prices if you’d like! From now till FEBRUARY 15th, you can buy a Tool Library Membership or buy an Open Workshop Punch Card at 2022 prices and redeem when you’re ready. If you have a current membership, we can add a full year to your current expiration date. Feel free to reply to this email if you have any questions about it!

As of February 15th, our new pricing will be…

TOOL LIBRARY MEMBERSHIPS

Standard Individual Membership: $150

GOLD Individual Membership: $250

Standard Household Membership: $200

GOLD Household Membership: $300

One Time Checkout: $40

Group Membership: $400

Group Membership GOLD: $600

*If you're a local nonprofit doing good work with a small budget, you can choose to apply to our Rad Orgz Membership Fund before you purchase! 

Open Workshop Hours

Open Workshop 10 Hours Punch Card: $165

Open Workshop Hourly - Members: $19/h

Open Workshop Hourly - Non-Members: $22/h

*Your current punch card will still work through 2023

2022 Impact - We've Saved Members $$$!

Well the math isn’t the BEST, but with about 10,000 tools checked out of the library in 2022 we estimate we’ve saved Denver Tool Library members about half a million dollars over the year! That’s not only a ton of money back in our members’ pockets, but it’s a lot fewer unused tools eventually ending up in the landfill, it’s a lot more home repairs made possible that otherwise would have been unaffordable, and it’s the ability for some members to pursue creative endeavors that they otherwise couldn’t.

We’re stoked y’all allowed us to make such a big impact in our community. Thanks for such a good year, and cheers to many more!

Brand New Class! Power Tool Petting Zoo: Women and LGBTQ folks

Power Tool Petting Zoo: Women and LGBTQ folks // 2.18.23

Reclaim the woodshop! In this class we invite women, gender-expansive, and LGBTQ folks to get comfy with drills, saws, nail guns, and more in a supportive, hands-on environment. If you have ever wanted to take a demolition hammer to the cis-hetero patriarchy, but nobody told you how to turn the thing on, this class is for you! 

With a spirit of low-stakes experimentation and camaraderie, we will explore hands-on opportunities with a variety of beginner-friendly tools that may include power drills, impact drivers, scroll saws, jig saws, band saws, miter saws, power sanders, and a few varieties of nail guns. No question is too basic, bring them all. You’ll walk away with the confidence to safely tackle and trouble-shoot a variety of projects, and maybe even make a few friends to help you make your DIY dreams a reality. 

About Your Instructor: Dani (they/them or she/her) has been DIYing since their teenage years, when their mom taught them how to safely use her miter saw in the family living room.  Dani spent nearly a decade working as a landscape contractor, has built two small backyard homes (a yurt and a 12x8 tiny home on wheels), and since moving to Denver has enjoyed learning to build furniture at DTL. They are excited to share the liberated feeling that comes with the tool know-how to build the thing you want, how you want it.

Happy New Year & Thank You So Much!

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR AN AMAZING 2022! We’ve come a LONG way since those exceptionally dark days of the pandemic when we, like so many other non-profits and small businesses, weren’t sure if we were going to make it. Thanks to all y’all who donated, bought memberships, took classes, came by the shop to drop off a 6 pack, and did anything else to support us big or small. Because of you we’re back on our feet and super energetic for a great new year. Looming recession and global collapse be damned - it’s going to be a fantastic 2023!

So, now that it’s a brand new year, what are your resolutions? Here's some very biased ideas: learn a new skill, fix up that old bathroom, be more creative. But who can help you accomplish such feats in 2023? Welllll wouldn't you know!

Sign up for a class, get yourself a tool library membership, and buy yourself some open workshop hours. This year is your year - you're gonna do great!

Community Workshop News! Mural, Air Filter, & People!

Community Workshop News!

1) If you haven’t seen it yet, our bland boring white walls have been taken over by our new galaxy lady who saws wood in space. THANK YOU SO MUCH ELENA GUNDERSON FOR THE RAD MURAL! @elenathunderson

2) Thanks to our fantastic volunteer Karl’s contribution, we bought a Powermatic Electrostatic Air Filtration System! This will make it easier to breath back there when the sanding/sawing gets crazy for classes and open workshop AND WE LOVE BREATHING.

3) The workshop has been busy and super fun! Come join the party or invite a friend to the party by buying them a workshop hours gift card for the holidays.