Southeast ‘Tool Library’ grows, moves, needs volunteers

Published 12:00 am Friday, March 31, 2017

Sometimes a home improvement or repair, or a yard project, can be delayed or derailed for lack of necessary tools. And if a tool is for a one-time use, the expense may not be worth buying it. In such situations, the Southeast Portland Tool Library can come to the rescue, and fill almost any need.

The Southeast Portland Tool Library (SEPTL) serves twenty Inner Southeast neighborhoods, and stocks approximately 2,000 tools, most of which have been donated by individuals, although some have been given to the library by hardware stores.

Borrowers have a variety of reasons for using the tool library. For some, it’s economizing; for others, it is such as described by one social media user: “The real advantage for me isn’t the cost of the tools, but the fact that I don’t have to store them. Like, when am I ever going to need bolt cutters again?”

Begun seven years ago by Reed neighborhood resident Steve Couche, the library has just moved to a new location but serves the same neighborhoods. Jim Benton, a Brooklyn neighborhood resident, is the current President of the Board of five, and describes the library’s growth: “The library has had gradual but steady growth, adding 957 members last year to the existing 6,000 members.” In 2011 when the library was just one year old, it had 2,000 members.

Marv and Ardy Dunn, a Sellwood couple who could be described as ranking high on the DIY scale, have found the tool library to be extremely helpful.

“I have a lot of my own tools, but SEPTL is useful for expensive or the more unusual tools,” says Marv. “I recently borrowed a hammer drill for retrofitting the house. It’s a concrete drilling tool, and drills and pounds like a woodpecker.”

The list price for a hammer drill is $378, but of course it was free to use when checked out of the Tool Library for a week. Late fees apply, which keep tools circulating and available.

There is no membership fee, but monetary donations and tool donations are gratefully accepted, and are tax-deductible when donated through Southeast Uplift, the neighborhood coalition.

To see a list of the tools, and for more information go online: http://www.septl.org

As a nonprofit and completely volunteer-run organization, SEPTL currently needs more volunteers to stay open regularly. For example, on Saturday, February 25th, it was closed for lack of staffing.

People who are willing to be on the Board, or to sign up for a volunteer shift, are warmly welcomed. SEPTL is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5:30-7 p.m., and (usually) on Saturdays, 9 a.m. until 12 noon.

The new location for the Southeast Portland Tool Library is 1137 S.E. 20th Avenue.