Cohousing-L Mailing List: Woodworking Workshops [Was common houses in small communities]

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Dec 11, 2006, at 1:04 PM, Michael Barrett wrote:

> This is something I look forward to.  So I'd be very interested to 
> know how your workshop works.  How big is it ? How well equipped? How 
> many users, regular and occasional? How often used?  Controlled access 
> and use (from safety concerns)?  How do you manage high value, perhaps 
> high skill tools?  Do individuals own tools that they can control use 
> of?   Who pays to replace the burnt blade for the table saw?

Several of our members discovered a good resource for these questions 
-- a local woodworking workshop that offers classes (In Rockville MD I 
believe). They took a class in basic tool use and not only got all this 
info but a list of basic tools ($1200) to stock the workshop. Almost 
all the tools that were donated when we moved in have disappeared. 
(Locked cabinet on order.)

The follow through on this class when initially discovered was very 
poor. The organizer gave up and only two people (years later) actually 
took the course and are now in the process of purchasing tools. There 
was great enthusiasm for the workshop when we first moved in and we 
planned a rather large one. Only a few people have used it at all and 
it gathers junk very easily. Professional carpenters here to do work on 
units use it with their own tools. It's a beautiful space.

My caution would be to have people begin actually doing some 
woodworking before you move in -- take the classes and volunteer to 
maintain the facilities if possible. The reality is very different from 
the dream. The one person who was very proficient when we moved in said 
he would use the workshop but had no interest in setting it up or 
maintaining it. As an artist I have years of experience in shared 
workshops and studios and I wouldn't go near it on a volunteer basis. A 
lot of work. And you have control over the space -- everyone in the 
community cannot have a key and be allowed to leave it a mess.

Another source of information on member run workshops is retirement 
homes. I've seen a beautifully run and very active woodworking shop at 
Crosslands in PA, but the number of people (all men) using it was very 
small in a comparatively large community. A different scale than 
cohousing communities.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org