Thanks to a $3,500 gift from the Friends of the Oakland Tool Lending Library, aka the Tooligans, the Oakland Tool Lending Library at 5205 Telegraph Avenue (behind the Temescal Library) now boasts two large shade canopies offering patrons and staff relief from the afternoon sun and expected El Niño downpours.
The Oakland Tool Lending Library is a program of the Oakland Public Library. They have over 5,000 individual tools in their inventory, all available for Oakland Library card holders to borrow for free.
The Friends of the Oakland Tool Lending Library is a tiny, all-volunteer 501(c)3 nonprofit that supports the Tool Library and helps people have access to tools and learn how to use them safely and with confidence.
The Friends’ hugely successful Tool Sale fueled the donation. Held outside the Tool Library, on the first and third Saturdays of every month, from 10am until about 2pm (weather permitting), the event offers tools collected from donors throughout the East Bay and beyond.
“You can never tell what we might have on our overflowing tables,” said a recent volunteer. “The only thing you can count on is that everything will be a bargain.”
Video Produced by Tucker
What Can You Find at the Tool Sale?
The library offers a wide variety of tools, and recent donations have included wood lathes, table saws, bench vises, a battery-powered tiller, a benchtop jointer, antique planes, a surveyor's transit and theodolite, a commercial-quality drain auger, as well as dozens of wrenches of every sort, screwdrivers, handsaws, Allen wrenches, a lawn mower, a new angle grinder, and much more.
The tool sale is held every first and third Saturday. Photos: Anna L Marks
Junior Carpenter’s Club
The Tool Sale also helps underwrite FOTLL’s popular Junior Carpenters’ Club, a four-workshop program that helps young people learn how to use basic hand tools safely and with confidence. Host sites pick three workshops from FOTLL’s growing list of simple woodworking projects.
Volunteers from the Friends of the Oakland Tool Lending Library teach participants how to safely use tools to create their own birdhouses, planters, and more. Photo: FOTLL
The first workshop introduces participants to the tools in FOTLL’s toolboxes. Students have made toolboxes, birdhouses, treasure boxes, hanging planters, and toys. Host sites have included OPL’s Main Library and several branches, several schools, and even a Girl Scout troop.
“None of this is possible,” said Soares, “without the hard work of a dedicated group of volunteers, so new recruits are always welcome.”
Get Involved at FOTLL Events
What else is on FOTLL’s horizon? Look for their booths at two Piedmont Recreation Department events:
- Donuts & Dreidels, on December 6, and
- Surf’s Up, Santa, on December 12.
Although dates haven’t been set yet, FOTLL has been invited back to the East Bay German International School for a fourth series of Junior Carpenters’ Club workshops. Also pending is a screen-printing session to rebuild FOTLL’s inventory of its world-famous $5 T-shirts. (They even have photos on their website to verify that “World Famous” claim!)
For more information on the FOTLL Tool Sale, the Junior Carpenters' Club, or volunteer opportunities, contact them at FriendsoftheOaklandTLL@gmail.com, or visit www.FOTLL.org.
