North Portland Tool Library

I never understood the crushing magnitude of the phrase «biting off more than you can chew» until we purchased a home. A craftsman home. Which if you don’t know, craftsman is just another way to say needs a lot of fucking work. So here my husband and I are, the blind leading the blind, down this humbling road we call home ownership.
Until we got married our «tools» consisted mainly of a screwdriver set from IKEA. Although we’ve come a long way, we have even longer to go. Enter: the tool library. Portland’s gift to the newly married, broke, and DIY impaired or dabbler. The tool library, as you might have guessed, is basically a library of tools you can check out for a week at a time for a suggested donation of $ 1. All of the tools have been donated making it a hodgepodge of all kinds of things. They have a non comprehensive list on their web site to help you get a gist of what they offer. They have all the basics covered.
This particular tool library is just for us folks in North Portland, which you need to prove by way of mail and an ID. I gather from combing the internet that our tool library is a little underdeveloped in comparison to others in town. Us north Portlanders are roughing it, but we’ll take what we can get with a smile. We couldn’t be more thankful this place exists.
This place is run by friendly volunteers, bless their hearts. For this reason rules can be a bit fuzzy. For example, being able to renew tools over the phone vs. in person can vary from person to person depending who’s manning the desk. I’m not complaining mind you, just a PSA to be patient and gracious with these volunteers. After all, if they weren’t there you wouldn’t have any darn tools to starts with.
A great resource if you’ve got big dreams of fixing things and you’re manned with an IKEA screwdriver.

An awesome free resource. My only issue is the hours, because I’m a night owl, but I can’t genuinely complain because, you know, it’s FREE!

Um, I am kind of STUNNED I can’t find a review of this on Unilocal.This was THE first tool library in Portland and they have served me amazingly well as a homeowner in North Portland. They have a wonderful selection of tools and you can usually get what you want or need, if you go at 10am on Saturday. Even if you’re not a homeowner, they have everything you could need for woodworking or other similar artisan/​craft projects. They have a wide variety of yard and garden tools, and even bike tools. Check out the exhaustive list on their website and consider them instead of Home Depot next time. They also offer classes — I went to one and learned how to operate 5 different kinds of saws, safely. This is an amazing service to the community and we are lucky to have them in the quadrant.
Also: PLEASE drop money in the jar! Think of how much money you’re saving. And/​or sign up to volunteer.