I am a bundle of emotions just now–proud, honored, humbled, excited … terrified.  The Queen City Roller Girls are volunteering this Saturday at The ReSource from 10-1pm.  They’re helping us kick off our Vacation from your Vocation initiative!  QCRG chooses an organization each month to visit and volunteer their time and we’re their March!  We wanted to share their example with you and invite other local companies or groups to spend a day with us in the future–either at the store or in the gardens or for tree plantings and street blitzes.  We are always glad to see the fraternities and service groups, but we also hope there might be some businesses out there that are looking for ways to give back to the community and support ReUse with their time and enthusiasm.

I can hardly wait to see the surprised expressions on some of faces of our usual Saturday visitors when they see all these ladies skating around holding power tools and building steel racks and shifting inventory!  So, bring your skates, bring your knee pads and come meet some of ladies in the league.  They have quite a few derby highlights on their youtube site–careful not to watch too many of them, Peter Grine, or you might be too intimidated to show up Saturday!

You can get tickets to their upcoming bout for next Sat, March 28th
If your company would like to schedule a service day, please email volunteer {at} buffaloreuse(.)org

Spring has sprung! It is getting warmer–a perfect time for fixing windows and planning this season’s garden! This weekend there will be workshops held at 153 Eaton St. on those two subjects! Saturday, Patrick will be joining the growing list of instructors as he demonstrates how to remove windows, replace sashes and glass, and correctly reinstalling them. Whether you have a cracked window or are just interested for future reference, learn from the best!

Fixing Broken Windows
Saturday, March 21st at 3pm

In honor of springtime, Sunday will be all about gardening!  Planning, starting seeds, growing techniques.  Megan and our new greenspace coordinator Matt will be co-teaching.  Get ready to get your hands dirty as they’ll be inviting you to do some plant starting and to construct raised beds/cold frames!

Planning your Garden
Sunday, March 22nd at 3pm

As always, the workshops are FREE, hands-on, and last about an hour. Bring friends, family, neighbors, anyone who wants to learn the tricks of the trade!

When we were taking down our first house on Lombard Street in the Spring of 2007, artist and architect Dennis Maher showed up one chilly morning. I remember him standing there with a pleased grin on his face as we dismantled the building, like the proverbial kid in a candy store. A couple days later, we loaded some “small” panels on his borrowed truck and away he went. He later joined us for some hands-on demo and remains a strong supporter and friend.

Dennis loves building fragments, the contours of the city and all the creative possibilities of demolition. If you want a great chance to see his work, stop by his Allentown studio this coming Friday, March 20. Location is 506 Delaware in Buffalo. Time is 7 to 10pm.

From Dennis’s announcement:

For the past six years, Dennis Maher has been mining demolition sites, salvage yards, waste bins, and second-hand stores for discarded materials and objects. The recovered remnants have subsequently been assembled into a range of new spaces, places, and events that collectively delineate the contours of a city of re-used waste. This ongoing project proposes a host of urban territories that have been regenerated from cast-aside fragments. Maher’s work has established symbiotic relationships between acts of un-building and re-building, coordinating property owners, demolition/deconstruction ?rms, and contractors in the sustainable re-allocation of material resources, waste, and space. Through the raw and rough contours of detritus and abandonment, the outlines of an Undone Redone City begin to emerge.

On Friday, March 20, from 7-10 pm, Maher’s assembled environments will be open to public view at 506 Delaware Avenue. As the city of Buffalo intensi?es its long battle to rid itself of derelict and decrepit structures, this work asks us to think critically about the place of waste and emptiness within our culture. While transforming presumed liabilities into unique urban assets, it offers glimpses of alternative possible cities and landscapes.

contact:

dmmaher {at} buffalo(.)edu

Generally, when folks that live in the suburbs call us to schedule a pickup of donated items, we try to encourage them to swipe things from their neighbors curbs too.  They chuckle nervously, but we’re hopeful they’ll do some foraging because of the time and fuel involved from our end.  We definitely need and want the material; we just have to make sure we’re getting it as close to free as possible because of our budget limitations.  You can imagine my delight when Mary Fisher called and suggested she’d like to host a little driveway collection on her street!  Enter the coffee cake, donuts and assorted toilets, counter tops, cabinets, windows, light fixtures and “whatnot” that all her neighbors will bring her next weekend.  They’re going to bring their “curbside treasures” over to Mary’s house and we’re going to go pick it all up at once!  So, thank you, Mary, for the sharing the idea and hosting a curb-loading.
Would you like to host one?  If so, here are the steps:

1. Please speak with your neighbors and choose some times for them to drop off material in your driveway/garage.
2. Call the ReSource and speak to Kevin to schedule the truck & crew for a pick up day–it doesn’t have to be a Saturday; that’s up to you–just whenever you’ll be home.  716-882-2800
3. Make sure you give Kevin your email so we can get you the tax deduction form if your neighbors want to get their tax break for the donated items. info {at} buffaloreuse(.)org
4. Here’s a link to a page on our website that helps you to know what we’re looking for and what we can’t use.

We will accept materials from remodeling projects, doors, flooring, radiators, sinks etc–we’ll even take used or new tools and lawn equipment or books from your DIY library that you don’t need anymore!
(Sorry we can’t dispose of broken appliances or electronics).  You don’t literally have to live in the ‘burbs to coordinate a street/block curb loading; if you schedule one–we’ll come get the goods!  And don’t wait until the big trash day–we can come tomorrow.

Micki, one of our Green Space Coordinators just alerted us to the fact that Majora Carter will be in Toronto this Friday!  I have been wanting to share her with you guys for awhile and intended to do it this month as part of featuring WOMEN WITH GREEN HEART for Women’s History Month and so it fits perfectly!  You may have seen Majora on cable TV recently because her story is one the natural foods snack company, True North, has selected.  She is an activist for greening the South Bronx with tree plantings, parks and training folks in green collar jobs.  Majora is a role model for other women who are also dedicated to improving quality of life and creating community.  Her sincerity and passion for her community is undeniable.  Majora shares the continual struggles of morale, poverty and safety that she faced growing up in the ghetto and that young people in the South Bronx still overcome every day.  Majora was formerly director of Sustainable South Bronx which has multiple green projects–from cycling to cleaning up polluted lots.  Their programs provide tangible goals and hope for the neighbors.

Micki wants to get to Toronto and see Majora–because we tried to get her here back in November and she was already booked.  Majora is the keynote speaker for Greening the Neighbourhood.. and how much it won’t cost us
followed by panel with Joe Pantalone, Ben Powless, Blake Poland, & Eric Miller
Friday March 13, 2009, noon-2pm @ UofT’s Hart House
If you’re interested in carpooling, please get in touch with Micki at greenspaces {at} buffaloreuse(.)org or meet her at Sweetness 7 at 10am–she’s a petite, curly haired cyclist.

This weekend, the ladies at 153 Eaton St. are offering workshops in 2D–anything you’d ever want to know about doors and drywall!  On Saturday they’ll be focusing on installing doors, fixing creaks and squeaks, and adding locks to keep out the scary boogie man!  

Doors, Doors, Doors
Saturday, March 14th at 3pm

On Sunday they’re looking to spice things up and offer a workshop on a completely separate topic–drywall installation!  This workshop will be drywalling over an existing, unnecessary door frame, but will cover even the most basic questions like what types of screws or drywall to use.

Drywall Installation
Sunday, March 15th at 3pm

As always, the workshops are FREE, hands-on, and last about an hour. Bring friends, family, neighbors, anyone who wants to learn the tricks of the trade!

BUILDING MATERIAL REUSE
ALTERNATIVES EXIST!
Disposal of ReUsable Materials is no longer an option!

I don’t talk much about the fellowship Buffalo ReUse was awarded from the Echoing Green Foundation in 2007, but I have tremendous respect for the mission of Echoing Green in supporting cutting edge ideas, social innovators, and entrepreneurship (www.echoinggreen.org). This foundation is cutting edge because they support risk takers, efforts committed to action and outcomes, and innovations that have the potential to create positive change.

Echoing Green is taking the lead in supporting a paradigm shift in how not for profits can be structured and sustained in the future. Social ventures conduct business in a thoughtful and meaningful way, responding to critical community and social needs, while also generating revenue to fund programmatic goals and operational expenses. It has long been the priority of Buffalo ReUse to strive for long term financial sustainability through a viable earned income model. This model has immense potential, but we need your help!

Our primary service, green demolition, depends largely on developers, builders, government, and homeowners being aware that alternatives exist. They need to know there are options to demolition that protect the environment, support local hiring and training, and save them money. Over the next few months, we’ll focus our marketing and media efforts to communicate the benefits of this service. When buildings are being taken down, we want ReUse to be at the table.

Material reclamation and salvage is a second service that helps residents, builders, retailers, and demolition contractors divert material from the landfill (and save money at the same time). In the coming months we will all witness tons of materials placed street side for bulk trash pickups. Rehabilitation projects will result in tons of reusable materials being senselessly tossed into dumpsters and carted to landfills. Scratch and dent and surplus materials are often discarded because they take up valuable retail space and because low disposal rates offer a quick and efficient solution.
We can’t continue on the course of rampant consumption and disposal; materials must be reclaimed and reused. The acquisition of these materials creates a supply of low cost materials for folks in the neighborhood supporting rehabilitation and repairs.

The ReSOURCE, our low cost building supply store and education destination, offers unique materials, low cost materials, and architectural elements for architects, artists, homeowners, landlords, contractors, developers, and builders. The revenues we generate support our neighborhood development efforts and help us grow and maintain the space. Volunteers and interns play a huge part in growing and developing the store to facilitate sales and educate our customers about the use and reuse of reclaimed materials.

We need to expand these services. Community awareness, marketing, targeted outreach, and media networking are critical components in casting the net so more folks know that alternatives exist.

The Vision:  To achieve long term financial self sustainability through the expansion of our services, the acquisition of materials, the development of new markets for reused materials, and the growth of sales at the ReSource.

The NEEDS:

• Marketing Experts and Strategic Planners who can assist in the development of a plan for expanding our services in the region.
• Graphic designers who can create new print materials for targeted mailings, posters, leaflets, etc which engage the public visually.
• Social networking to expand our existing presence on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and on our Blog.
• Website Developers to create new designs and approaches to market our services at www.buffaloreuse.org.
• Database designers and data entry support – it’s critical for us to organize our contacts and supporters and maintain a list of current clients and potential clients.
• Media Consultants to support media outreach and networking to get information about our services out to the community.
• Special Events Planners to plan, coordinate, and facilitate special events that spread awareness of our mission and purpose.
• Videographers, musicians, and photographers who can develop and distribute through a variety of media a clear picture of the scope of our services.

The STEPS to get involved:

• Send an email to volunteer {at} buffaloreuse(.)org with a description of your ideas and interests, including your contact information.
• Attend planning, sessions, brainstorms, and events where the planning and implementation for these ideas will begin and take place.  We’ll inform you of sessions relevant to your interests.

Implementation: Michael Gainer and Caesandra Seawell are coordinating the effort to expand demand for our services. Stay tuned for upcoming organizing meetings.

Onward,

Michael and the ReUse Gang

Recently the ReUse was contacted by Nail Jack Tools LLC to alert woodworkers, especially reclaimed wood workers, about their new nail pulling tools, the “Nail Hunter” and “Nail Jack”. Nail Jack Tools very kindly sent us a set of these tools to evaluate and since the weather was pleasant yesterday I decided to take the Nail Jack out into the yard to de-nail a pile of lumber from a recent deconstruction job.

Image Courtesy of Nail Jack Tools LLC

The Nail Jack and the Nail Hunter are functionally identical tools, except that the Nail Jack is Larger. Since building deconstruction literally produces tons of lumber studded with nails ranging from 10 inch long spikes to carpet tacks, I decided to use the larger Nail Jack, figuring that it could pull the largest nails but could probably extract any smaller nails as well.

The pile of lumber I de-nailed is a daunting opponent for any nail pulling tool as it consists of a

stack of, mostly 8×8 oak timbers recovered from a 100-year old barn. Typical to old barns, overly large nails were used in its construction, many 8 gauge or larger. Additionally many of the beams bristled with an assortment of smaller nails, cut nails, tacks, and staples used for cross beams, wiring, siding etc… Many of the smaller nails were heavily rusted, bent and embedded into the wood.

Before detailing my reasons I’ll get right to the ending – I think the Nail Jack is a really great and useful tool. It is innovative, seems well built, hardy, and very reasonably priced for contractors and do-it-yourselfers, at about $25 a tool (nippers, $15-$40 depending on quality).

An initial reaction by my colleagues was a “So what, it’s a glorified pair of wire cutters or nippers”. But it isn’t, and only after you start using it does its thoughtful design and utility become apparent.

First, there are the two sets of jaws, beaked jaws in the front and the grooved jaws in the rear that can grab onto nails at any point along the shaft. The narrow internal width of the beaked jaws allows the user to clinch the nail with significant force. Thus the nails do not need an intact head to extract them, just a small exposed piece to affix the jaws onto. The rear jaws are wider and primarily grasp exposed nails, especially large ones, between a set of three teeth so that substantial pulling force can be generated. What sets the Nail Jack apart from a pair of nail nippers is the banana shaped head that allows the user to leverage nails from almost any angle; backward, rolling side to side, or pushing forward when the rear jaws are used. The rear jaws also double a strike plate to hit with a hammer to bring extra force to the nail. I must confess I did not need this as its pulling ability was more than sufficient for the nails I encountered.

The tool’s features clearly sped the work because I could quickly re-adjust the tool back to the starting position to keep maximum force on the nail without having to use wood blocks to increase leverage or switch to tools for different nails or difficult situations. I should also mention that I alternatively used the nail jack with one or two hands and pulled or pushed depending on the situation.

An additional advantage I noticed while de-nailing timbers (as opposed to narrower boards) is that the range of motion of pulling is so wide that I could pull nails relatively easily on the top and sides of the timbers. This necessitated less moving or rolling of the lumber over, making the job easier and faster.

Since you can grip the nail at any place along its length and quickly re-adjust the tool back to where it has maximum leverage, each extraction consists of a sequence of small pulls rather than one long pull. Thus the tool spends more time flat against the wood, spreading the pulling force more widely and causing less damage to the wood. I generally noticed that even gnarly and crooked nails left with holes not much larger than the width of the nail.

In the approximately two hours I spent pulling a few pounds of nails with the Nail Jack I only resorted twice to using a pry bar and the nippers. I required the leverage of the nippers to pull a particularly long (~8 inches, upper right corner of photo) and crooked nail. To be fair this nail barely fit in the jaws.

The one downside I encountered with the Nail Jack is that there is a spring that pops the tool open as the default state. This spring, located in the rear jaws seems somewhat vulnerable to damage. In fact the spring in our tool developed a kink (last photo) after I used the rear jaws to push out an 8 gauge nail. I believe the force of the nail head pressed against the spring damaged it (it got the nail out though). Despite the kink the spring is still functioning but I believe it will succumb to metal fatigue relatively soon. We have contacted Nail Jack Tools and it appears that the spring can be easily replaced or used without it. I personally liked the spring loaded action as it readied the tool quickly for the next pull.

So in conclusion I highly recommend the Nail Jack. I believe that home renovators or re-used material carpenters will find this tool very useful. I also believe that the spring may not be a big issue for lighter duty jobs. The Buffalo ReUse is particularly hard on tools and, all in all, I thought this tool did an excellent job and fared well under tough conditions. 

I can’t remember who first thought of us using old single pane windows in constructing a greenhouse, but we’ve talked about it so much over the last year and now we’ve found a model to share/adapt. Andy Murphy, one of our founders, sent us a link for an Instructable on building our own. Look at this website, there’s all kinds of step by steps with photos to help you. This one is for the greenhouse The website also has lots of examples and tips for germinating seeds cheaply–from egg cartons, to severed plastic soda bottles to my personal fave–the sandwich baggie. Maybe you can help us make another instructable on some other topic and then we can be famous too!

Right now we’re looking for folks who are willing to germinate some seed packets for us! And pretty soon, we’ll start talking about organizing a city-wide seedling swap–so don’t throw away any of your extras that you might not have room for–instead get in touch with our new Green Space Coordinator, Matt and let him know what you’re “holding” greenspaces {at} buffaloreuse(.)org

Ever noticed the difference between a so-so paint job and a professional one?

This weekend, the ladies at 153 Eaton St. are bringing in a professional painter–he’s been at it for 40+ years!–to share some expert pointers on how to paint new life into your old house.  They’ll be focusing on interior painting (keep your eyes peeled for exterior painting workshops when the snow quits) and they have tons of walls for you to practice on.

Painting Like a Pro
Saturday, March 7th at 3pm
Sunday, March 8th at 3pm

As always, the workshops are FREE and hands-on. Bring friends, family, neighbors, anyone who wants to learn the tricks of the trade!