The Tool Lending Library will be closed Sunday, May 25th 2025 for Memorial Day.
Classes will still run as scheduled. Any tools due that day will be extended with no late fees.
Class Spotlight! Small Bookshelf Build w/ Sineah
Class Spotlight! Small Bookshelf Build w/ Sineah of @diyworkshopcollective. Next classes are Friday, June 6th at 11am and Friday, July 18th at 4pm.
In this woodworking class you will learn how to prepare wood and follow plans for a more precise project. Learn the skills to build something larger with our lending tools or in the workshop. This small bookshelf would be perfect for bathroom storage, to use as an altar, hang mugs by your coffee station or display your Colorado fossils. All skill levels are welcome from total beginner to advanced.
About Your Teacher: Sineah has been teaching beginner woodworking classes at the Denver Tool Library since 2018. Sineah will encourage you to creatively problem solve and by the end of class, will send you home with a project intended to impress your friends and yourself.
10th Bday Month Tales: Post Pandemic Classes & The Future
THIS IS THE LAST ONE OF THESE POSTS FOR TEN MORE YEARS, WE PROMISE! Gather ‘round now while we tell some tales of times past. April 2025 is our 10th birthday month, so we’re going to reminisce with a chronology of grainy photos and stories that are at least 90% true. 🎉
10th Bday Month Tale #7: Did you know that classes at the tool library weren’t really much of a thing until after the pandemic?
After the pandemic let up y’all REALLY wanted to get out of your homes. Thanks to you and our fantastic teachers, we went from 0 classes to running a woodworking, metalworking, home renovation, or art class just about every day over the course of a year. We’ve tried all sorts of classes in our little space since then from knitting to blacksmithing with varying degrees of success, and we’re still trying out new ones all the time. BTW - You should totally take a class!
10th Bday Month Tale #8: Did you know that today people check out 12,000+ tools per year, offer 500+ classes per year, and have 1000+ hours of people building their own projects in our community workshop per year?
We’ve come a long way since we were just a couple hundred tools in the back of the shop, and these stats keep growing! Rumor has it we’re even looking for a bigger space. Pick up a DTL 10 Year Anniversary “Against All Odds” shirt next time you’re at the shop, and thanks to folks like you for making the “cool concept” of the Denver Tool Library a rad reality!
What are your hopes and dreams for the DTL going forward? What would you like to see happen in the next 10 years of DTL?
Want to ensure this “cool concept” stays alive another 10 years?
Woodworking III: Box Joinery is Back!
Woodworking III: Box Joinery w/ university professor Jonathan has been on a break, but new dates have been released for this summer! Continue your woodworking fundamentals education on Tuesday, June 24th or Tuesday, July 22nd at 5:30pm.
*This class has suggested but not required prerequisites. See below for details.
Boxes are fundamental to woodworking. If you want to make drawers, desks, bookcases or beds, you first have to know how to build a box. More than that, boxes are used throughout your entire life for keep-sakes, recipes, note-cards, jewelry, tea bags, cigars, and much more!
Volunteers Wanted! Do You Like Fixin' Stuff?
We're looking for volunteers who enjoy fixin' tools and meeting like minded folks, ASAP! No need to be some sort of a tool repair genius - all you need is some basic tinkering experience and a can-do attitude.
For details and to get started, email amanda@denvertoollibrary.org
Thank you!
Jesse DTL#1 Sweety! 3D Printed Punch Cases
Tool Library Member Jesse 3D printed a new custom case for our punch set! Thanks for being DTL#1 Sweety, Jesse!
Want to borrow a punch set with a nice new case and over 6,000 other tools? Get a Tool Library Membership - they’re just $150 per year.
Meet Tool Librarian Emily! (Video)
Meet Tool Librarian Emily, one of the many great folks who keep the Denver Tool Library running!
10th Bday Month Tales: Workshop Opens & Then a Pandemic
Gather ‘round now while we tell some tales of times past. April 2025 is our 10th birthday month, so we’re going to reminisce with a chronology of grainy photos and stories that are at least 90% true. 🎉
10th Bday Month Tale #5: Did you know the Community Workshop opened in 2018, almost five years after the Tool Library?
Almost five years after the Tool Library opened, it was time to take the leap and get ourselves a front door. We expanded and took over the gallery space up front. We shuffled some things around, bought a bunch of very heavy workshop tools from a weird guy on Craigslist, and started to let people use them for whatever they wanted. It was the beginning of Open Shop, and it was weird lol. Things were much improved once we got our super handy and super helpful Shop Monitors. We also started trying out some of our first classes, like Cutting Boards and Hexagon Shelves w/ Sineah.
10th Bday Month Tale #6: Did you know we opened a drive-thru so people could still borrow tools during the pandemic?
Well, not quite a drive-thru. It was more like some plastic folding tables in front of the door that we called a drive-thru. We’d stack tools on it for people to pick up, and when they dropped them off, we’d spray them down with a lawn pump sprayer full of sanitizer from the city. In the winter the tools would freeze to the tables. In hindsight, we may have over-indulged in sign-making as a coping mechanism, giving the DTL drive-thru its distinct “the end is near” appearance.
Want to ensure this “cool concept” stays alive another 10 years?
Hiring! Part-Time Tool Librarian
The Denver Tool Library is hiring a Part-Time Tool Librarian who is flexible and available to pick up additional shifts on an as-needed basis, in addition to one set shift per week.
Deadline to Apply: Friday 4/18/25
Tool Librarians play a vital role in the Denver Tool Library as they are the first face someone sees when they come in to learn more about DTL, check out tools, learn about classes, and answer any incoming questions. Tool librarians are responsible for checking tools in and out for members, keeping the tool library clean and accessible, and fostering a welcoming environment for people to come in and learn about tools!
*Have enough job? Tell your friend!
10th Bday Month Tales: Lending Begins & Rooftop Bands
Gather ‘round now while we tell some tales of times past. April 2025 is our 10th birthday month, so we’re going to reminisce with a chronology of grainy photos and stories that are at least 90% true. 🎉
10th Bday Month Tale #3: Did you know that the whole Denver Tool Library used to be in the back half of the shop only (where the Workshop is now)?
Even though the $20,000 raised from membership pre-sales was more cash money than any of us had ever seen, we still had to be pretty scrappy. We could only afford to rent the back half of the shop (where the workshop is now) and still had to sublet a corner of it to screenprinter extraordinaire Arna Miller. Google maps would lead you to our secret back alley entrance. Our original sign was a cut up billboard found in the dumpster, and nobody got paid for years. BOY WE HAD FUN THOUGH!!! Our volunteers were truly truly amazing, so many generous people started donating tools to help us build our inventory, and members regularly brought us food and beer to help us survive.
10th Bday Month Tale #4: Did you know we used to have bands play on the roof during our First Friday parties?
Since everyone was a volunteer the first few years, we had to throw good parties. We got bands to play in our backlot, sometimes on the roof, and we’d serve drinks out of a poorly built particleboard structure that we called the “Clamp Shack.” For our first birthday party INCITE made us the big creepy baby that’s still hanging in the workshop. DTL First Friday morphed from live bands and vendors, to dj sets and stump, to mostly karaoke over the years. This year we’re doing First Friday Member Socials so everyone can get chatty about whatever they’re workin’ on. Everyone is welcome and members get a free drink 🍻and there will still be threes i bet, iykyk 🎲
Want to ensure this “cool concept” stays alive another 10 years?
