This simple garden bench is suitable for use indoors or outdoors, regardless of whether the wood surface is finished or unfinished. We recommend cedar because it’s a native Pacific Northwest wood, readily available, and it holds up very well in the weather even if it is unfinished. This project should cost $30 to $40.

Once you’ve gathered all your tools and materials, please refer to the cut list and diagrams to build your stylish new bench!

The completed bench will be 48" wide

Tools:

Miter Saw (be sure to wear goggles and ear protection while using it)
Goggles
Ear plugs or muffs
Drill (Drill pilot holes before driving in your screws, otherwise your wood will split and crack. Take the time to do it right!)
1/8” drill bit
Driver bit (match your screws)
Square
Tape measure
A sharp pencil

Materials:

Cut List:

Steps:

Click each image to view a larger version.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

NoHo’s Hawaiian Cafe (Fremont location) is hosting a big fundraiser to support the Northeast Portland Tool Library.  All day long (11am-9pm), NoHo’s is graciously offering to donate 20% of all food (and alcohol!!!) purchases to the tool library.

• Thursday, June 9th 11am-9pm
• NoHo’s Hawaiian Cafe 4627 NE Fremont Ave

Here is a link to NoHo’s Yelp page.  Good stuff!

Tell all your friends and family.  See you on the 9th!

NEPTL must be mentioned for the proceeds to make it to NEPTL appropriately. Please, print the coupon below and show it to your server before paying.

The Northeast Portland Tool Library is proud to host the 1^st adult/child class!  You and your child will learn to build your own traditional birdhouse. These would make a great Mother’s day gift!

Saturday May, 7 – 10:00-12:00

NEPTL, Redeemer Lutheran Church

The class is limited 25 birdhouses, so reserve your spot at the tool library today! Suggested donation $5 per birdhouse.

An adult must accompany children!  All materials and tools will be provided. Parr Lumber donated materials for the class.

For more information call Tom at 503-539-1756

This grinder is great for sanding and grinding high spots in concrete or cutting steel bolts. This is a nice heavy duty tool to add to our collection.

With all the pneumatic tools in the Tool Library, we decide to purchase an air compressor. This is an oil-free compressor and good for all of your around-the-house projects.  The 18-Gauge Brad Nailer takes up to 2” nails and is great for adding all that trim work in your house.

Heavy Duty 1240w Electric Demolition Jack Hammer

Because of the popularity of this tool, we now have two jack hammers.  This is an awesome tool for removing old concrete slabs and pathways with ease.  It is also fairly lightweight and easier to handle compared to most jackhammers found at rental stores.

The most important thing to remember when using this tool is to keep the oil level filled to maintain proper lubrication. We also have an extra set of chisels to use with the jack hammer, since they do wear out with use.

Pneumatic Palm Nailer

A palm nailer is useful for nailing joist hangers on a deck, framing walls in your house, or nailing in awkward spaces. The nailer connects to an air compressor and fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. It functions like a regular hammer by driving a nail into the wood with a piston that moves back and forth.  It is intended for rough nailing and not finish work.

1-Inch Bosch Rotary Hammer

This heavy-duty rotary hammer is very capable for all normal homebuilding or remodeling tasks. It will drill holes fast and install anchors in concrete or masonry in a few seconds. It drills into most concrete as if it is drilling into butter, which can save you hours of labor.

A hammer drill works a lot like a regular power drill; with one extremely important feature.  Instead of spinning a drill bit, a hammer drill also creates a percussion effect that rapidly hammers a bit into the material at a rate of thousands of blows per minute. The spinning action draws waste material out of the hole. While it is a simple little feature, the percussion effect is what allows a user to easily drill hole after hole into common masonry, rock, and concrete. As an added bonus, you can also simply turn off the percussion and use a hammer drill on wood, drywall, and other less dense materials, just as you would use a normal power drill.

Please stop by the tool library if you have any questions on how and when to use any of these tools.  We are always happy to help you find the right tool for the right job.

Rigler is a K-8 public school located at 5401 Northeast Prescott that focuses on language learning, including a 2-way Spanish immersion program. Rigler’s 600 students come from varied cultural and language backgrounds, with about a third of the students speaking a first language other than English, including Spanish, Vietnamese, and Somali.

NEPTL volunteers helped excited kids hammer nails and drive screws into a ten-foot 6×6, donated for the event by Parr Lumber. For many, this was the first time they had ever used hand tools.

At the hammering station, NEPTL volunteers provided a row of ready-to-pound nails for kids to test their skills. A pair of young brothers in safety glasses competed to see who could sink a nail first. They quickly discovered the delicate balance between power and accuracy, adjusting their grip as they tried to outpace each other.

Estefani and her friend Aracelie were among those who lined up to use screwdrivers to muscle drywall screws into the massive beam. After considerable effort, Estefani drove a screw almost flush and then paused. With a glimmer of recognition, she declared that she could probably use a screw at home to hold up a picture. To complete the task, she grabbed a pen and proudly signed her name next to the slightly protruding fastener. Nearby, Aracelie confidently turned her own screw into the wood while explaining that she and her dad built a doghouse together over the summer.

The event was part of an ongoing effort at the school to involve parents more in their kids’ learning and to foster the underlying supports that students need to succeed. Rigler staff planned Build It! to draw the interest of both moms and dads. “It’s often just the moms” who get involved, said teacher Mari Bartoo Jacobson. From across the gym she watched groups of kids and parents go from one activity station to the next, with dads significantly outnumbering moms.

At one table Cynthia Bui and her dad Dong were putting the finishing touches on a 12-inch long bridge made from popsicle sticks and duct tape. Cynthia, who studies Spanish at Rigler and speaks Vietnamese at home, explained the goal: make a bridge that could hold the most weight using only a small supply of sticks and tape. As she worked, Cynthia spoke to her dad in Vietnamese then explained that he had helped figure out that a triangle would make a stronger structure and would also use fewer sticks. Attaching the last piece of tape, she hurried off to another table to put her structure to the test.

Build It! helped spread the word about an upcoming school facilities bond measure that would renovate or rebuild aging Portland schools, including Rigler. After helping his son build a bridge, Anthony Lincoln spoke to parents about Measure 26-121, describing the need for a modern building to replace the 1931 structure. He lamented the current school’s leaky plumbing, antiquated heating system, and portable classrooms, and urged support for the measure. At a nearby table kids drew their own visions of what the new school might look like… roller-coasters and all.

Tom Thompson, NEPTL volunteer and Tool Master, enjoyed teaching the students about basic tools. “Half of them said they’d never hammered a nail before!” He felt the event was a success for the library, too, as he handed out NEPTL brochures to interested parents.

School counselor Nicole Levine expressed gratitude for NEPTL’s involvement and hoped it would help raise awareness among parents about the valuable community resource provided by the tool library, adding, “We’d love to see more families join.”

Mudding and Taping

The types of joint compounds are unique in the properties they offer. From hot mud (speed dry) to all-purpose and then for final coating, topping mix. Hot mud will set the cut patch in place and requires taping, which accelerates dry time and makes the repair go quicker. The speed dry mud comes in bagged, powdered form. But it is not intended for final coating. It is mainly used for bedding, curing to the hardest granular set.

Redi-mix, multi-purpose is a bedding and finish compound. When sanding, redi-mix topping compound is ideal. Certain multi-purpose mixes are formulated to shed toward the ground upon sanding, rather than dissipate into the air.

Wall Hole Repair

Damage to the walls can be caused by moving, by all sorts of accidents or even vandalism. When repairing holes in the wallboard, there are a variety of techniques that can be applied across damaged areas as determined by hole size. For dings and surface repairs there is wall spackling.

Walls that have roughly pencil-sized hole damage are prevalent from mounts and brackets inserted into the drywall. These small holes in the wall can be entirely restored to the eye. Damage of the next approximate increment – hole repairs up to a couple inches across – starts to require taping to prevent cracking and to form structural basis for the compound. This is an important concept for all repairs, mudding and taping.

Board swapping, or replacing the existing with new drywall sections, is the sturdiest fix overall. It provides both the most serviceable surface and amount of deterrence to cracking as compared to other techniques. The materials you have on hand and the extent you wish to go to, to secure a strong patch, will make all the difference – with hole size remaining a significant factor.

The advent of metal patching methods provides another choice for repairing sizable damage.

Ceiling Area Repairs

Damage to ceilings can be caused by everything from roof leaks to a misplaced foot when walking in the attic. Almost all the skills you have learned from wall repair is applicable to ceilings as well.  Keep in mind though that joint compound is notorious for sagging when repairing ceilings. Larger braced ceiling repairs offer durability as do smaller replacements with clips; it’s all a matter of choosing the best method for the repair that is before you.

For all patches both ceiling and walls, where there is the element of direct physical wear, like with the changing out bulbs with canned lighting or the constant light force of a hand onto a wall plate, some methods like a mesh tape patch alone for a section of mis-cut drywall — might possibly crack out. Therefore the amount of wear is a factor in deciding which patch method is best suited.

As you can see, there is a lot to know about drywall.  This is just the tip of the iceberg. You can read more about drywall repair online at http://drywalltips.org/ or your favorite home improvement website.  When you’re ready to get started, drop by the tool library for your supplies.

On February 7th, 2011, from 4pm to 11pm, Hopworks at 2944 SE Powell, will be hosting a fundraiser for the SE Portland Tool Library and 20% percent of all of the evenings proceeds for the night will go to the SEPTL.

Proceeds from the evening’s event will help purchase tools and support the construction/development of an outdoor SEPTL tool shed at St. David’s.

All you have to do is go to Hopworks that night, enjoy a tasty meal, order an organic beer or homemade soft drink and know that you are supporting a great program. And of course there will be a great group of SEPTL members, friends and supporters there to have some great conversations with. There also might be a few surprises you won’t want to miss out on!

So, invite your friends, in fact, invite LOTS of them!  This is a really wonderful chance to show your support for the SEPTL and to have a great night out.

We will accept any tools that are not broken. If we have too many of the type of tool you are donating, we will often give it to one of the other two tool libraries in town – most often to the Southeast Portland Tool Library, since they opened in 2010 and are still building up their inventory. We also cannot keep certain items: gas powered tools are too hazardous, and tools like pressure washers and chain saws require too much maintenance. These tools may be sold to help us purchase other tools on our member wish list, or may be passed on to another tool library. But no matter what your tool’s fate, it will be used by someone and will help the tool library remain a useful resource to this community.

To donate, stop by the tool library with your tool during our open hours.

Did you know that the NEPTL also offers group loans for community group work projects? In November, we loaned several wheelbarrows and other gardening tools – approximately 60 tools in total – to be used by volunteers during the Sabin Community Orchard Fall Planting Day on November 13. About 30 people showed up to plant fruit trees and bushes and create swales in the orchard. In the process, work party participants learned about perennial food plants and permaculture from permaculture designer/teacher Connie Van Dyke.

The work party was organized by the Sabin Neighborhood Association and the Portland Fruit Tree Project. The Sabin Community Orchard is located on NE Mason Street, between 18th and 19th Avenues.

Read more about our group tool lending program and learn how to request tools for a work party on our website.

A Clean Furnace Filter
Make sure to change your furnace filter if it needs replacing. Remember if that furnace filter is not clean, it’s like shutting off the flow of air to your furnace. It needs air just like we do to breathe. There are a wide variety of furnace filters, most of them under $5.  You can even get a washable furnace filter and save yourself a trip to the store when it needs to be cleaned. Just hose it off, let it dry, and put it back in your furnace.

Preparing for Freezing Temperatures
We experienced our first freezing spell of the winter two weeks ago, and we are likely to experience a couple more before this winter is over. It’s important to remember that water expands when frozen. This can cause some major damage to anything that contains water when the temperature goes below freezing.

• Unhook and drain your garden hoses. You won’t need them again till next summer and it will save you a plumbing job for broken pipes. Your local hardware store sells those nifty hose bib covers to keep them from freezing for about $2.00.

Hosebib covers cost about $2 at any hardware store.

• Similarly, if you have a rain barrel collection system, it’s important to drain it off in the winter so that it doesn’t freeze and split. There will be plenty of rain in March to refill them, and you won’t need the water till at least May.

You can find more tips on preparing your home for the winter at the links below, or just drop by the tool library and ask Tom, our resident expert.

• Winterizing your water pipes
• Winterizing your wood deck
• Preparing your garden for the winter
• Home energy audits from the Energy Trust of Oregon

See you at the tool library!