Toronto Tool Library Reviews

Staff are super helpful and friendly! This really saved my behind, too!

Great idea. Borrow tools when you need them instead of buying. Super for tools you only need once in a while. Donate the ones you rarely use. Cheap if you are ok with borrowing for 3 days at a time.. "casual membership" is only 50$ per year.

We love the Toronto Tool Library! We borrowed many items from the tool library to complete the construction of our new wellness clinic at Woodbine and Mortimer. The staff are very friendly and always have great suggestions to help us complete our projects. A great resource for our community!

I come here to refill dish soap and laundry detergent. I love the idea of this place, and if I do require tools at some point, it is so nice to know this place exists!
The staff are always super friendly and helpful. I try to tell everyone I know about this place because there should be more of them in a city full of condos and apartments, and a world with too much plastic thrown away.

The gentleman who was working when I went in was extremely kind and helpful. Above and beyond. I wish I could remember his name. Highly recommend instead of buying tools for one time jobs!!

$200 initiation fee. + $100/month

After I payed over $300(tax) I found out about so many rules.

1. no cutting after 9pm
2. no cutting plastic at all. (including laser cutter)
3. can't use a grinder

I was told the $200 initiation fee includes a 1yr membership to tool rental. After I stopped the membership in 1 month. I was told the $200 initiation fee does NOT include tool rental membership.

Many staff volunteer to get free membership. The turn over is 2 weeks. Every 2 weeks there is a new wave of not helpful, untrained volunteers. After they are trained, they leave in a month.

I kid you not when I say that after my experience here, I called my boyfriend absolutely giddy to share with him the incredible time I had at the Tool Library! I went in hoping to get some advice on a small issue (I am incredibly NOT handy) and ended up with all 3 volunteers brainstorming all the different ways I could fix it. Since it also happened to be community night, I was able to come back and work on my little project, at no cost (it's PWYC so donate!) with everyone teaching me different aspects of the process.

I also picked their brains about a shelving project I'm hoping to tackle and again, was showered with great advice and tips. Even other members (many who are pros) and Kevin, the owner, chipped in. I can't remember the last time I left a store feeling on top of the world. I love their mandate and the passion, friendliness and sense of community you feel when you walk in. Plus I learned so much! Tons of tools, camping equipment, even board games and this location has an adjoining MakerSpace to work on your own projects (separate membership fees). Thank you Kevin, Kyle and team - can't wait to stop in again. There is hope for humanity after all!

PS - they also carry the Unscented product line (shampoo/conditioner/detergent/soap); bring your own jars and you can buy what you need at very affordable prices (i.e. 500ml of 12% acetic acid vinegar cost $2.03).

Get a membership here if you need to rent tools. Such a better price than anywhere else and it supports the sharing economy. Plus the people are very kind and friendly. For example a tool i needed was $40 a day at homedepot but here was just $5 for 3 days at the current membership level. Im going to upgrade my membership this week as I have some projects next month but for a regular membership you cant find a better deal with such a great selection. Worth every penny

Nice place for tools sharing at a low price (casual membership is 50$/year)
The maker space is really a great place with 3D printers, laser cutting, wood workshop... really impressive place in Toronto!

Well maintained collection of tools with a great customer service.

They had a good start creating the business with a lot of support and donations. Perpetual grants, volunteers, donations dependent even AFTER 7-8 YEARS!. Poorly run and executed with many low quality tools that were donated. No one seem to maintain tools.

Extremely worth it. Great selection of tools and almost always available when needed as they typically have multiples of the same tool.

Such a nice makerspace! I'm going to make some sawdust soon, and then clean up after myself. Check out all the new tools! 3d printers and cam router table, sweet AF.

This is such an incredible resource. I visit nearly every week.

The Toronto tool library is much more than a place to get the occasional tool. It is a community hub. Other groups, including the Repair Cafe, frequently share this space and there are always joyous meetups between people with shared interests. Volunteer an hour there and you will become a part of a larger family. I wish there were a tool library in every neighborhood of Toronto. Nothing brings communities together like collaboration to improve quality of life and reduce waste

Perfect place to rent tools. Perfect is youre a hobbiest.

I have to say that I am so glad that this place exists! I was in dire need of some assistance to finish up a DYI project. Toronto Tool Library at its amazing staff were responsive, punctual, and eager to help! I obviously took advantage of the ninja program (with Jen who is the BEST) but there s so much more that they offer.
I cannot wait to go back with my little one.

Awesome - great selection, very frinedly atmosphere, great people! totally worth it!

This is the cutest and most welcoming environment I have ever visited. So glad I joined the tool library. I tell everyone I know to join! Folks who work there are generous with their time and so knowledgeable- will help you with any project. Worth the $50 membership fee hands down.

A vast and constantly expanding selection of tools and accessories for every project you can think of. Friendly, accessible and the staff will get you the right tool.

Great place with almost every thing you need. The knowledgeable staff are super friendly and helpful to find a solution for your needs. Greatly recommend this place.

Toronto Tool Library has loads of things you can rent with different memberships, and they also have a makers space with work benches, a laser cutting machine and sell shampoo and conditioner you can decant in to your own bottles! It s a little tucked away in an alley, so just keep an eye out for the sign on the sidewalk.

It is such a novel idea! People were so helpful and I am thankful to Paul who discovered the issue with my appliance and fixed it. They even had refreshments! I will definitely be going again!

The Toronto Tool Library and Makerspace are poorly laid out and even more poorly run, with damaged equipment and arcane rules. I purchased a monthly membership, only to find pieces of equipment required for my project to be out of service for the entire month. Upon returning at a community night (after cancelling my membership) to find the place effectively vacant, I was told the piece of equipment could not be used because it was too loud , a rule that perhaps would make sense if anyone else had been using the facility. I would argue that despite the good intentions of the creators of the makerspace, its execution is so poor as to render it worse than useless. There is a small store onsite, but it does not stock most materials useful for the sorts of small woodworking and maker projects that most users of the space might be aiming for. Nice people, but perhaps best suited for another line of work...

I'm impressed. I came in on a saturday morning and ended up staying there for 2+ hours without noticing the time. I was discovering more and more. The place downstairs in incredible. My kids loved it, they played with toys forever upstairs. As i'm a negligent dad who loves tools, i found the lawn mower should be moved to a safer safer place? This place even has a discoball to borrow. C'mon. That's coming to my next party!

Great idea, poor execution and management. This review pertains specifically to the Danforth location in August 2017.
WEBSITE AND ONLINE MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION - The website inventory is relatively easy to navigate and search, and signing up online was simple. A big hickup is that the online profile did not appear to populate into the in-store system automatically for this location. Make sure to buffer some time for this to get sorted when arriving onsite.
SELECTION - A solid B+ on available tool and camping items, all in relatively good shape. However mislabeling, poor record updating, and poorly organized "display" racks (items are basically just dumped onto cheap industrial shelving in general categories) makes finding items difficult. My experience: When picking up supplies, items listed as available through the website weren't found, and item tracking numbers were incorrectly marked on the items themselves. Another drawback is that items can't be reserved in advance.
STAFF - Maybe it was the day, but when I checked in for the first time, none of the working staff had experience with the computer system, and weren't particularly helpful in locating items. Strictly amateur hour. Since employees are mostly volunteer, I guess you get what you pay for.
ACCESSIBILITY AND HOURS OF OPERATION - Big thumbs down on this one. Weekend early closes and erratic hours of operation (the week of Aug. 27 the location was closed from Sunday to Wednesday, and this hadn't been clearly communicated in advance during checkout, or again on Sunday when attempting to return items. Recommendation: Call in advance to save a failed trip.
OVERALL IMPRESSION - While the heart's in the right place, poor communication, organization and training really impact the reliability and ease of use for this location. If you're looking for a casual drop by in the neighborhood it might pass muster, but don't expect things to be easy.

Great neighbourhood institution. Very helpful and friendly.

Best place ever. Such a wonderful community. Every one looking to help Everyone else.

Great selection of power tools, camping gear, sports equipment, board games, kid's toys and party supplies all available to borrow with my tool library card.

This place is indispensable, having their tool lending library totally changes the way you plan out household projects. For example, you don't want to buy a single use tool for a small project... or rent said tool from home Depot for a larger project because it's 50 bucks a day and you're not sure you'll finish in one day, and you're left trying to decide how to proceed and budget for something you've perhaps never done before. Here you can borrow tools for no additional cost beyond the annual membership. Borrow tools to do the same thing a few different ways just in case. Crucially you can borrow stuff you'd never be able to rent elsewhere (clamps, an extra hammer, some hole saws, whatever other bits the big box store has no incentive to lend you). I'm in my second year of using the Tool Library and I hope it's around forever.

Amazing concept! Friendly and knowledgeable volunteers. Love this place so much

I want to say first thing, this review is on the workshop and that this is a nice place to have in the city. But most of this review is a warning to serious woodworkers. Mainly if you are considering doing some work here, you should be careful of what you are using. A lot of the machines have small problems that will translate to big problems in your work. using the mitre saw, 0 is not 0 degrees, the drill press platform is not square, the thickness planer tears out like nuts, the table saw fence won't stay locked. Things of this nature. It's a place where everyone is using this stuff and it gets lots of problems and these never seem to get addressed. It's free on community night and it can be useful to you but frankly it's mostly hobby stuff or people using the cnc. Seriously it is hard to just find a workbench space without a laptop on it. If you are doing serious work, just be careful with what you are doing and try to compensate for the problems if you can safely. Again, I like having the option but it's like a well where you make damn sure you boil the water first before drinking. props to the volunteers for trying though.

I came there because I wanted to make a wooden sword and received a ton of help!
Because of a volunteer helping me out I was able to make this!

Very friendly and helpful staff! Sign up was quick and easy. Solid collection of tools that's always growing.

Amazing community spot for tool rentals. Tool Library is amazing.

I don't really want to give a good review, I don't want anymore people to know how awesome it really is but fair is fair.

Hey Neighbours .. You can get a membership here and borrow all kind of tools for all your home mtce needs! Great idea!! Camping gear, yard mtce tools as well

Quick and painless to sign up as a member as well as borrow and return tools. First time I have used this service but I will be back, this is a great idea and seems to be well executed.

Great place and a wonderful idea for the community. Thank you

Great ppl and I found everything I needed for my , bikehouse renovation fixing, wood work projects. Love it!

A lot can be made in this space, they have a lot of tools!! Cool vibes and ran by great people

A great place to borrow items like tools, camping gears, sport's gears, kid's toys, and boardgames!

A whole new level of community engagement!
So much more than what you understand from the name. If you're looking for a vibrant community of great people, this is it.
A perfect model for city-dwellers with not enough space to keep those items you only use a couple of times per year. You can have access to a professional-level tool shed! Multiple locations around town, but the Danforth location has a full workshop, as well as 3D printing and Laser cutting.
So far, I have already built 5 major projects for my home, as well as making many wooden toys for my daughter and niece.
For volunteers, the value of what you get in return for your time commitment is amazing, on top of the good feeling from helping out at such a worthy enterprise.
The future is bright, and this place is a sign of good things to come!

A MAKER PARADISE. Woodshop, CNC, Laser, 3D Printing and a LOT more!