Cortes Island’s dream of having a makerspace has become a reality. The Cortes Wood Makerspace is being set up in the Orchard Village Shop, 671 Sutil Point Rd, Mansons Landing.
“This idea has been around for a long time. I have heard people talking about it for at least 15 years and some old timers apparently remember even longer. We have lots of people who are woodworkers or building their own homes and not everyone has to build a shop for themselves and equip it with machinery,” explained Hannu Huuskonen, the Shop Master.
“We had our first meeting here on Saturday and there were at least 21 of us. That’s how many names I have, but there may have been one or two who didn’t write their name down. There were quite a few professionals, a few total newbies and a few people who were working on their houses.”
“People who don’t have experience will have to go through an orientation workshop, where you learn the ‘one on one’ of using shop tools safely and doing a small project. The people who have extensive shop experience will be mentors in this process.”
Huuskonen mentioned the Cortes Community Forest Co-op partnering with the Cortes Housing Society on this project:
“Cortes Community Forest Co-op has a mandate to increase ‘value added’ products. They had the consultation where one of the things that was recommended was a makerspace.”
Mark Lombard, General Manager of the Cortes Forestry General Partnership, added. “The question for the community forest, in terms of the bigger picture roadmap, is how do we get to where we want to be in the future? A woodworking maker space is a big, big next step. So this is really exciting. The community forest is putting in $15,000 towards some of the tools and the housing society is putting in $15,000 – $20,000 to upgrade the electrical service and then a little bit towards tools. It’s a really great collaborative community project.”
Huuskonen explained how this project came into being:
“It was synergistic, a few things happened at the same time. I’m working in a tiny shop where I can build two or three cabinets and I have to move them out so I can do the next batch. I was like, I would like much better space for myself. Cortes Housing Society purchased this land and asked for suggestions on how to rent the shop. Also I heard Donna Dryer and Richard Yensen were hoping to get rid of Bhaskar Krag’s tools that were in their garage and that Bhaskar would sell them. Those three things happened at the same time.”
“So instead of asking to rent this space, I contacted Sadhu Johnstone (Executive Director of the Cortes Housing Society) with a proposal to start a makerspace. Having already done such a project in Vancouver, he took it, jumped and ran – and I’ve been running after him ever since.”
Cortes Currents: How do you share the space if you’re making cabinets?
Hannu Huuskonen: “This is a big enough space that most of the time, three people can fit doing it. Sometimes we’ll have to go like ‘I need to use this tool for this long time and then we can switch,’ do-si-do, but that’s only in the daytime there’s a lot of evening time when there can be more social makerspace where there can be maybe even a few more people who can work on their little projects.”
Cortes Currents: Have you done this before?
Hannu Huuskonen: “I have worked on the Island as a carpenter for close to 20 years and done cabinetry independently for a good 15 years as well. I worked in Jim Kearney’s shop in the barn back in Smelt Bay. That’s where I learned my craft. Most days there would be one or two other people doing a little project of this and that. I miss that social interaction while I’m working.”
“Most of my cabinetry work has been for the extremely wealthy and I’ve enjoyed the work because I get to have artistic license. I usually get to design what I build.”
“This opportunity to maybe be useful for the community, especially in our housing crisis, is really exciting for me. I’ve been looking at how I can use my skills. So ideas came together from those different pieces and I surprised myself by following up on an idea – because I have lots of ideas, but I don’t usually follow up on them. That was mainly because Sadhu really took it. He’s such a mover, a shaker, that suddenly we have actual funding for the thing.”
(There is already a shop with 13 foot high walls standing on the property.)
Cortes Currents: Do you like these high ceilings?
Hannu Huuskonen: “Yes, I’m loving them because I’m working in such a low shop right now that I can’t lift a piece of plywood upright in it. It makes everything a little difficult.”
Huuskonen described some of the work currently underway at the shop:
“There’s a couple of young guys, Stefan Renaud and Keenan M., who are building roof structures on the two sides of the shop. We’re going to have nice covered areas on both sides, big enough to perhaps accommodate someone building a tiny home under it and then pulling it to wherever it goes.”
Cortes Currents: A tiny home factory, so to speak.
Hannu Huuskonen: “It could be, the shop is right here. There’s lots of work to be done. The roof structures are happening. We’re going to have an electrical upgrade. We’re getting a hundred amps into there, but at the same time wired so that it can be upgraded to 200 amps when there’s some other extensive power upgrades happening here later on.”
“The next step will be to start building infrastructure inside the shop. Like we have now the bones of the shop tools. We have a table saw, a planer, and a jointer, all nice items. We need to build a receiving table for the table saw and then a chop saw, mitre saw, bench rail on the back wall, and so on.”
(We walked around to the side of the building.)
Hannu Huuskonen: “Here’s the walk-in entry to the shop, and I envision lumber racks here. Storage space for the stuff that stays dry.”
“We’re getting a heating system, it’s going to be a heat pump system. We’re looking at the best system here.”
Cortes Currents: Is there anything you would like to add?
“We’re looking for people who are interested in becoming members and anyone who is can send an email to cwm@cortescommunityhousing.org.”
Links of Interest:
- Articles about, or mentioning, the Orchard Village property
- Articles about, or mentioning, a value added workshop on Cortes
- Articles about or mentioning the Cortes Housing Society
- Articles about, or mentioning, Cortes Community Forest
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