start a woodworking collective in Seattle

I want a great shop I can use. Just downsized and need space or a shop. There is a fully equipped shop for rent for $600/month in SODO now. 10 of us could have it for $60/month, plus take shifts supervising others to pay by the hour as a business. Anyone interested? Let ke know at jkrida@gmail.com Jeff

my family and i will be moving to seattle later in the summer or fall and this idea has caught my eye. count me in as well. i havent been in the business for long but i do have extensive experience in wood products and the production of custom furniture and antique repair. my niche is distressing and i love the the process of creating.
and its probable that i can run any machine including a CNC.
keep me informed guys…....bryan

Well, instead of founding a collective, I think I found one in the form of Ballard Woodworks. It’s a big shop space where a few professionals and several non-professionals do their work, and where they also offer classes. I just took the Japanese Tansu workshop and thought it was a really excellent primer to get back into the hobby.

It’s not a tightly run joint so I wouldn’t call it a co-op or collective. And I don’t want to suggest that it’s “open for membership” because I don’t think it runs that way. But from what I gather, if you put in the time to get to know folks, you build up trust and have access to more machines, then eventually work out a deal with the management for the kind of shop use you need. So, that’s my plan.

Really, who needs to own everything (and who has room for it all)? A space with a table saw, bandsaw, router table, and some bench space, plus room for people to keep their hand tools, is all that’s needed. A planer? Sure. A CNC Shopbot? Why not?

Myself and several others have been looking for space to rent amongst ourselves but a collective would make acquisition of tools and materials much easier. We’re all in various architecture and design firms here but it’s amazing at how difficult it is to find something to accomodate anything more industrial than painting. Count me in, plus about 4 more.

Hey people, just found this site. I am moving to seattle this summer and want to keep up my woodworking without buying all the tools. Have you gotten started? Do you still want to? I would organize it. e-mail me at chris.b.simons@gmail.com

I searched for something like this and would join the collective if this existed… May be easier to rent time from an existing shop or school? I took an evening course at Seattle Central community college a little over a year ago because it was the closest thing I could find to this… access to a shop! Classes are busy and getting more and more popular so that is getting to be a difficult option.

I think this is a very possible endavour. In fact I’ve done my research and have found a number of others who’ve pulled it off in other cities. Why not here? I have a very strong interest in woodworking, primarily design involving reclaimed and/or “green” materials and eco-friendly finishes. I just found this “43 things” so i’m not quite sure how this works yet. So, somebody get in touch with me I’d love to talk about this idea.

I don’t know why this took so long, but I finally put up a wiki using DHH’s Instiki. It’s password protected, so if you want to start adding to it, drop me a message at:

exposhare[At]gmail

And I will send you the password.

It’s really just a place to put ideas about setting up such a CoOp…I have been pondering two different models, the centralized, large warehouse workshop vs. the distributed network of folks sharing time, energy, and their space and tools. The distributed model would certainly be less expensive, but it would really put the cooperative nature of the endeavor to the test.

Alright, I haven’t gotten the wiki set up yet, but I have a new server at home, and a domain name for the organization that is:

http://www.shopcoop.org/

I intend to set up an instance of Instiki this weekend…more to follow…