Send us pics of the projects you’re working on with Tool Library tools! We will share them online and you’ll be entered into a draw to win a whole year’s membership at VTL. Email your pics and project info to manager[@]vancouvertoollibrary.com. Contest ends November 30!
Thank you to the members who took the time to attend one of our AGMs last month – it was great to hear your questions and comments about the VTL. There were many ideas for the Board of Directors and staff to work on in the upcoming year.
For those of you who could not make it to one of the dates, the Annual Report from the 2013-2014 fiscal year is now available here: VTL Annual Report 2014.
The VTL offers organizational memberships to non-profits and small businesses to help make tools and tool use accessible and affordable for those actively working to improve our communities. This month, we connected with VTL organizational member Shifting Growth to find out who they are, what they do, and how they use VTL tools in the work of their organization.
Shifting Growth is an urban agriculture organization that creates community gardens on vacant lots throughout the lower mainland. While Shifting Growth has gardens from Coquitlam to North Van, VTL members living in East Van are likely most familiar with The Drive Garden (Commercial Drive and 12th Avenue) and the Hastings North Community Garden (East Hastings Street and North Penticton Street).
Shifting Growth was established in 2011, when founders Troy Barrie and Chris Reid saw an opportunity in Vancouver to create high-demand growing space while providing a service for private landowners. Acting as property managers, Shifting Growth takes over property maintenance and creates temporary community spaces. Through this work, Shifting Growth provides a cost-effective solution for private landowners while transforming vacant spaces into temporary growing spaces, and engages local community members and organizations to create value from underutilized space.
Shifting Growth uses specialized tools and garden tools from the VTL for its community garden builds. Their VTL membership has lowered their equipment budget, allowing Shifting Growth to contribute more funds toward creating more gardens and more impact within our communities.
The Drive Garden will be expanded by over 30 community garden beds on May 10, 2014. You’re invited to spread the work, move some dirt, and find out more about how you can get involved!
The VTL offers organizational memberships to non-profits and small businesses to help make tools and tool use accessible and affordable for those actively working to improve our communities. This month, we connected with VTL organizational member The Safe Amplification Site Society to find out who they are, what they do, and how they use VTL tools in the work of their organization.
The Safe Amplification Site Society (Safe Amp) is a non-profit organization dedicated to music for people of all ages. Operating in East Van since 2009, Safe Amp hosts up to nine all-ages, financially accessible, inclusive, and alcohol-free performances and events at Astorino’s (1739 Venables St.) each month.
On their website, Safe Amp details a history of hosting a truly staggering number of all-ages events. Their events schedule reflects representation of dozens of musical genres and hundreds of bands, all made accessible to individuals of all ages and income levels in an intentionally safer and more inclusive atmosphere.
In 2012, Safe Amp utilized VTL tools during Skills for Performing Artists Through Community Engagement Camp (S.P.A.C.E. Camp!), a weekend long speaker and workshop series that included a “build your own instrument” workshop. Using salvaged materials from the tool library, Pietro Sammarco led several groups through do-it-yourself instrument construction.
At present, Safe Amp is working towards the establishment of a permanent, legal, sustainable, affordable and accessible all-ages venue, while continuing to operate temporarily at Astorino’s. Safe Amp is always looking for more volunteers to help them keep Safe Amp alive. It can’t and won’t exist without the support of the community to keep the gears turning.
Go to www.safeamp.org to find out about upcoming shows or how to get involved!
Every month, we feature a project created by a different Vancouver Tool Library member. This month, we’re talking to Tom about his homemade composite downhill skis.
What inspired you to make your own skis? During the first major snowfall of the 2005-2006 ski season, I broke my ankle. I was choked that it would mean several months of recovery and I would miss most of the ski season. I needed a project to get my mind off of the injury. At the time I had been looking for a project that involved steam-bending wood. As I started doing research, I found some online resources for making composite downhill skis. My good friend Malcolm was equally intrigued, so we decided to see if we could each make a set. Why not try and make something we would actually use?
How did you learn the required skills? The skills for making skis are fairly similar to basic woodworking skills. If you know your way around basic power tools, you’re most of the way there. Lucky for me, Malcolm had experience in vacuum moulding and I learnt a lot from him for this step of the process. We followed the basic steps shown on skibuilders.com, but the actual skills are being gradually refined by trial and error. With each subsequent pair of skis we make, we try to improve on the processes that didn’t work well on the previous pair. Though it seems that each improvement brings a new challenging problem, I’d like to think that eventually we’ll have a product that looks and performs just like a commercially available ski.
What tools did you use? The typical tools are a planer, table saw, jig saw, router, drill, digital calipers, and lots of clamps. We also had to make a few tools, including the ski template, mould and core profiler. The specialized tools are the vacuum moulding equipment. We were lucky to have a 1970’s era vacuum pump that was slated for recycling end up in our hands. It’s a bit old but works like a charm.
What was your favourite part of the process? TESTING! No doubt that putting on your pair of home-made skis and going for the first run is the most satisfying part of the process. I try to ski my homemade skis aggressively so that I can learn where their weak points are (essentially, I try to break them). My second favourite part of the process is lay-up. This is when all the components of the skis are ready and it’s time to put them all together (steel edges, base, fibreglass, core, top sheet) in a big epoxy sandwich. It’s the most critical part in the process when you can’t make a mistake. Once the epoxy is mixed, it’s only a matter of time before the epoxy cures so everything has to be ready to go.
Any advice for folks embarking on the same project? Start online with the amazing free resource skibuilders.com to get an idea of what is involved. My second piece of advice is to start simple. Try to duplicate a pair of skis that you already like to ski on, and compare how your skis perform to them. My third piece of advice is: be patient. At least triple the amount of time you think you’ll need to make your first pair. My last piece of advice is to keep your building components clean and dust free. When you come to the lay-up part of the process, each material must be clean and free of dust in order to get a good bond between all the layers.
Does this feature have you itching to hit the slopes? Get prepared for the skiing and snowboarding season with our Tune Your Skis and Snowboard Workshop on November 15th! Register in the shop or online.