What would you say if I told you there was a way of turning around people’s lives, simply by getting your old and unused tools and sewing machines into their hands? That’s the goal of a small Belfast-based charity, Tools for Solidarity. And on a freezing January Sunday, eight repair café volunteers headed over to meet them and find out more.
Our eyes widened at shelves of screwdrivers, saws, wrenches and classic sewing machines stacked floor to ceiling at their workshops, just off Sunnyside Street in South Belfast. Volunteers mend, clean and check the tools to make sure they are in tip top condition, then box them up to be shipped to partners in Africa.
Once a month, John, Stephen and the rest of the team run an open afternoon where anyone can go along, learn about their work, get help or advice with fixing or maintaining tools or use the workshop. It’s one of Belfast’s best kept repair secrets. Our team who are usually fixing stuff and sharing their knowledge at Repair Café Belfast enjoyed having the tables turned and being the ones to get some tips and help to get their tools working as good as new.
Clive had brought along his hedge shears, which needed sharpening and the blades weren’t quite closing. Soon they were in pieces on the bench. The blades were sharpened on the grinder and with John’s help and a bit of trial and error, they were assembled again and lining up much better.
Lawrence had brought along some chisels which were a bit chipped and worn, and so removed big chunks out wood rather than smoothing and improving the surface like they were supposed to. John showed us two ways to sharpen and restore the bevel. The first was using the grinding wheel again, but that relied on having one; plus a workshop where you could safely use it and the skills to do so with confidence. The second was much easier to do at home: simply nailing a piece of rough emery paper to a piece of board or wood and using it to carefully rub layers off the damaged surface of the chisel.
John is really knowledgeable about all the equipment and tools they work with. He told us about how saws have changed. It used to be that they were made of thicker metal so the teeth could be sharpened quite far down and they would last for years. Now they are made to be practically disposable after one job, because the metal is so thin that sharpening doesn’t work. Builders’ skips are full of them. He said older tools were often the best, because they were made to be maintained and repaired.
Roz had brought along a beautiful old portable sewing machine. First it was PAT tested and then John had a look to see if it could be repaired. Sewing machines are John’s speciality. Tools set up two training centre in Tanzania which now fixes up machines in country, as well as supplying tools and sewing machines, teaching people the skills they need to use and fix them and how to run their own small business.
Like Repair Café Belfast, the project is volunteer-run and focused on empowering people by giving them the skills to make, fix and maintain things for themselves. As well as supporting and training hundreds of people in Africa, they provide training and placements to people in their workshops here, including local refugees and asylum seekers, people with learning disabilities and young people from all over Europe.
We were left amazed at the knowledge and amount of work the small team at Tools for Solidary is able to do on a shoe-string. If you would like to help, they particularly welcome people interested in volunteering regularly and financial donations towards their costs of fixing up and shipping tools out to where they can help people turn their lives around. Find our more on their website or just head along to their open afternoon, on the first Sunday of every month, to find out more and get involved.
We hope Tools’ volunteers will be able to come to some of our future repair cafes where they will be able to help people repair and sharpen their hand tools. Join our mailing list or keep an eye on our social media (facebook and twitter) to see when they will make it along!
Repair Café Belfast 