Why buy when you can share? At Edinburgh Tool Library you can borrow tools from our inventory of thousands of them. Don’t know how to use them? No problem! We bring members together to build and learn by sharing skills and knowledge.
How does the tool library work?
Return
Take them back, clean and on time, ready for the next borrower.
Participate
Join in classes, open sessions or events. Volunteers are always welcome!
Making an impact
By borrowing tools rather than buying them we have saved households an incredible £1.5m. A worthwhile saving considering the average drill is used just 13 minutes in its lifetime!
We protect the environment too; buying these tools would mean an extra 180 tonnes of CO2 pollution, the equivalent of driving a car around the world 180 times!
We have delivered 100+ community projects which have provided opportunities for communities, particularly young people, elderly and minority groups, to come together with our volunteers and learn new life and employability skills.
Do you have tools to donate?
The Edinburgh Tool Library would love to give your tools a new home, allowing them to continue to give great service, this time to our members. There are a few restrictions, however, on what tools we accept. Please read our guidelines carefully. Thank you!
READ OUR TOOL DONATION GUIDELINES
Support us
As Edinburgh continues to recover from the pandemic, explore new ways to tackle the climate emergency, and at the same time cope with the cost-of-living crisis, we are ramping up our efforts to help communities who need us the most. Support our vital community, outreach and environmental work today.
There are many ways to support us.
Have a browse through all the things we do
The Repairmongery
Got something broken at home? Don’t know where to get it fixed? Try the Repairmongery! The Repairmongery is a new service aiming to fix your broken household items. Pilot stage & research goals What do…
10 Years Of Sharing
2024 marks 10 years of sharing (and caring!) for the Edinburgh Tool Library. From our beginnings once a week at the Leith Walk Police Box, to lending thousands of tools to communities across Edinburgh, the…
ETL Cycle Kitchen
Edinburgh Tool Library is launching a fresh workshop space for working on cycles1. We’re putting together a space for our members and community where you can work on your own cycle, learn basic maintenance skills,…
Advice for new sharing libraries
So… you’re thinking of setting up a sharing library? That’s a brilliant idea! Probably the best one you’ve had this week at the very least ツIt’s a brilliant and simple idea. Chris had the same…
Tool Sharpening & Renovation
Meet Dick, our Tool Sharpening Guru and all round amazing Tooligan! Just like everything in the tool library, this service is provided to you out of…
Become a community partner
Empowering through making As well as lending out equipment, ETL has two workshops where we teach DIY basics and woodwork, and we also run charitable programmes…
Volunteer Assembly
The Duddingston Conservation Society can now re-pot and sell plants in all weathers! Our Volunteer Assembly programme is BACK, baby! You might have noticed we have…
ETL Retrofixers
We are building a community of volunteers who want to learn, and help others make homes more energy efficient. Then we burn less fuel, reduce our…
Tool Delivery
Service Update / Farr Out is unable to offer the delivery service anymore. We’re looking for an alternative. Reach out if you’re wanting to help. Who Is Farr Out? Edinburgh…
Accessibility at the Edinburgh Tool Library
Your access needs Accessibility is important to us. We want as many people as possible to be able to access our workshops, services and classes if…
Tools For Life
A 3-month mentoring programme Tools for Life is ETL’s three month long mentorship programme that teaches young people (16+) who face barriers to employment with the…
Want to donate tools?
Thank you for thinking of us Firstly, thank you for thinking of us when choosing to reuse your tools rather than throw them away! Unfortunately, we…
Become a member today!
- Save money – Tools are expensive and not everyone can afford them. Whether you’ve got a shelf to put up, renovations to complete, or a space to transform, you will save money by borrowing tools from a tool library rather than buying tools yourself. In our first 5 years, we saved our members £875,000 compared to what they would have spent on the tools they borrowed.
- Save space – Using the tool library means you don’t need to worry about where to store tools you’ve bought.
- Be kind to the planet – If a drill is used for just 13 minutes of its lifetime and spends the rest of its time collecting dust somewhere, why not share it with your neighbours? By using less and sharing more, the Tool Library helps us all save on the packaging, water, fuel and rare earth minerals that go into producing each tool.
- Better communities! – When you become a member, you become part of a wider community. We run many workshops and programs to help people empower themselves with the knowledge they need to use tools themselves.
