This Saturday (2/6) The Buffalo Tool Library will host a Circular Saw Skills & Safety Workshop at 158 Eaton St at 10am. We will demonstrate a variety of proper and safe cutting techniques.  You’ll get hands-on training; together, we prep materials and assemble shelves made from reclaimed lumber.  Through this project we will review the proper and safe methods of workspace preparation, material handling and tool use.  Close-toed shoes are a must; please dress warm.  Feel free to bring your own protective eye gear, some will be provided as well. This workshop is free to the public.  We look forward to seeing you.

Part Ten of a Series

This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Earlier parts: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine

Buffalo Action for Revitalization

The BAR Program was initiated by Buffalo ReUSE to plug people into active citizenship–volunteerism–making a space for The City of Good Neighbors to be good neighbors. We created the BAR Program to improve quality of life in neighborhoods and literally build a thriving neighborhood, beginning with our target area–in the Masten and Cold Spring neighborhoods.  Our ReSource and office space literally straddle the adjoining borders of those neighborhoods. 

The BAR Program may seem like a strange interest for a demolition crew, but we are NOT a typical demolition company.  As a nonprofit organization and a green business we believe that investing in our neighborhood is paramount.  Every business in Buffalo from the smallest corner store to the largest corporation should make contributions of time, talent or funding to improve the city in which it operates and do so while respecting the environment and surrounding community.  Local businesses should emphasize and support sustainable communities through their own lifestyle; we are modeling the behavior we want to see in every local business.
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Sunday August 16th, 2009 was not only one of the hottest days of the summer but it was also the day that a small group of determined bicyclists headed out to ride all over town as a show of support for some of our city’s community gardens/urban farms (helped along by the fact that the ride leader Micki just wouldn’t take as a legit excuse the “aww, its too darn hot to ride” lament).

This ride showcased the inspiring horticultural work done by several very dedicated individuals and community groups across the city, all with the mutual intent to develop spaces within the urban environment that revitalized, repurposed and transformed the local scenery. Buffalo Reuse, through its Greenspaces and Tool BARn programs, provided support/ services/ materials and labor, for helping out with the development of these spaces into the wonderful places they are today. Viewing the gardens by bicycle was a nice way for us to get up close to the beautiful and healthy bounty offered up by these gardens.

Please take a moment to see what we did, either by taking the ride yourself one day soon (its posted up on our Facebook page) or review the photos of our travels, courtesy of Buffalo Reuse’s very own Caesandra Seawell.

For the month of July, we’ve been collecting books and magazines for our new lending library. Since July is almost over, this is our last ditch effort! We are asking for any of your old books/magazines with subjects such as:

home improvement
gardening
outdoor projects (green houses/decks etc)
green technologies
architecture
sustainability
community building
activism
urban issues
farming
building houses
canning (foods)
tool safety/use
landscaping
inspiring biography
Buffalo history

but please, no sappy romances.
Donators get a 10% coupon!

Books can be dropped off at 298 Northampton St BFLO 14208
any time Tues-Sat 8-6pm or Sun 10-4pm. THANKS!!

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. 

Buffalo Basics is spicing things up this weekend, and hosting two FREE workshops at 153 Eaton on two different subjects!

Saturday, February 28th at 3pm, we will be teaching how to replace subflooring in our upstairs kitchen, where a past roof leak left major damage.  If you have any water-damaged floors, common in kitchens and bathrooms, this workshop is definitely for you.

We’re still concerned about heating over at 153 Eaton, in fact even more so now that we’ve had our energy audit (thanks so much to those of you who came out Saturday!), so on Sunday, March 1st at 3pm, we will be glazing our windows. Glazing is easy, reduces heat loss from windows to half, and costs far less than completely new windows would!  We’ve got plenty of windows for practicing!
Come over this weekend, invite family and friends, and kick off March right–with the skills to replace weak flooring and keep the cold outside where it belongs!  Anybody interested in starring in some training videos?  Look at these guys!

buffalobasics {at} gmail(.)com

The ladies at BUFFALO BASICS want to invite you to their first, of many, neighborhood workshops.

Sanding Hardwood Floors

February 14th at 1pm or February 15th at 3pm (each workshop will cover the entire process, you do not need to attend both!)
At their lab/house, 153 Eaton, BFLO 14208

A few notes on workshops:

• The sanding workshop should last about an hour, but may extend longer as we want to allow plenty of hands-on experience to all attendees.
• We appreciate a registration/rsvp in advance at buffalobasics {at} gmail(.)com  but will take as many walk-ins as possible with priority given to our neighbors.
• Limit of 15 participants in each workshop.
• Please tell your friends and family to join us!

Need to fix a leaky tub faucet?  Are your windows drafty? Don’t know which end to use on that scary pincher thingamabob in your garage?  Ever wish you could save money and just do a remodeling job yourself??

Fill that tool belt between your ears!  Our first organizational meeting is at Belmont Shelter Corp. (1195 Main St) this Saturday Jan. 31st at 11am to determine what workshops will be offered, make a schedule and pool resources etc.
Partnering with ReUse, Megan McNally & Whitney Yax are providing the space for you to have a hands-on demos and learning experience in a real, DIY home improvement laboratory!  They just purchased a house on Eaton St and while they are gutting and rehabbing it, they’re offering workshops and demonstrations (and the chance to swing a sledge) to anyone who is interested–everything from basic plumbing repairs to installing drywall to growing a healthy vegetable garden.  What they need is your input–what skills do you want to learn?  What tools do you want to learn to use?  What expertise might you already have and be willing to lend?  We have kickstarted a list, but now’s your chance to toss around the ideas and meet other folks with the same goals.
Hope to see you Saturday!
If you cannot attend but you’d like to stay informed, email buffalobasics {at} gmail(.)com.

This Friday and Saturday Buffalo ReUse hosts our first tool drive for the tool lending library. This is a component of our Buffalo Action for Revitalization (BAR) program which is funded by The Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo. We hope to equip people, literally, with the tools they need to maintain their properties and/or make improvements on their streets. Many people we meet do not have the transportation or money to buy and rent equipment from home centers. Some of the tools they may need are special or only necessary for a limited time. There are also block clubs or service groups that would like to do things like street cleanups/blitzes with more regularity, but don’t have the edgers, rakes, loppers, weed wackers they would need to make it easier. Maybe they need to repair or paint their porch, but don’t have a ladder, table saw, or reuseable drop cloths. Maybe they don’t have the extra funds to get the safety equipment either. It becomes overwhelming–you can imagine!

We believe people should have access to the tools they need to make their neighborhoods a source of pride.

So, if you have used tools, extra tools or tools you never knew how to operate and want to donate them–we’ll take them anytime, but specifically Friday and Saturday at The ReSource, 298 Northampton. Saturday we will also be at Daemen, participating in the Environmental Summit, and we’ll have a drop off location outside of the Wick Center so if also there (it’s THE place to be) stop by from 9-12:30 and smile real big!

Dave Sheffield took it upon himself to apply for some gift cards at Home Depot and we are so glad for their support and Dave’s initative! Thanks a ton!

We have a lot of work to do before we can officially open the doors for folks to borrow tools–including branding all the tools and organizing the “barn.” If you have time on your hands and a desire to assist, please contact me at volunteer {at} buffaloreuse(.)org Click on the photo to see pics of what we’ve done so far.

As always, you will receive a tax deduction for materials or tools donated to Buffalo ReUse and if the item is too large (like a table saw or lawn mower or something like that) we are happy to pick it up.