Lump going to Blacksmith show again!

[Lump]

Some of you may remember the Troy Swap Meet in Miami County, Ohio, which I go to each spring and fall. And the fall event coincides with the SOFA Blacksmith show on the same fairgrounds (SOFA- Southern Ohio Forge & Anvil). It's located at exit #78 off of I-75, just north of Dayton, Ohio. I've been at the Troy Swap Meet as a vendor for the past several years in a row. One Garage Journal member, 67stang, has visited my booth there at least once. Well, it's here again now, and I'm going to haul up a load of junk tomorrow.

Following are some pix from previous years, which have been posted somewhere on Garage Journal in the past...just so newbies will know what I'm talking about. I wouldn't miss it for the world!

PLENTY of anvils for sale:

On the next photo, notice how small that Wilton bullet vise is...those are my eyeglasses beside it for size comparison.

One word of caution: They charge $50 admission to the Blacksmith show, because it is a 3-day event which is open to members only, with all kinds of demonstrations, contests, displays, etc. I go to the Troy flea mkt as a vendor, and sometimes they let me stroll through their "trader's area" for a few minutes. That's the part I like best anyway.

 

[J HAV]

One question.... Did you buy that baby bullet??

 

[justin10054]

I'll be at SOFA too. I'm going with my father who does iron work for a living.
I didn't know there was going to be a swap meet at the same place.

 

[Brad54]

What do they get for an anvil?
Down here, it seems like the price has jumped to $3 a pound, and most of them are beat to hell.
I actually saw a broken anvil yesterday! The last 3 inches of the horn was busted off, and one of the feet of the base was busted off, and they were still asking over $150 for it.

-Brad

 

[Ed_EOD]

You think your prices are bad...

http://fairbanks.craigslist.org/tls/3281013722.html

 

[Lump]

One question.... Did you buy that baby bullet??

I sure did want it, but wasn't yet familiar enough with the rarity and demand for Wilton Baby Bullets to pay $100 for it.

 

[Lump]

What do they get for an anvil?
Down here, it seems like the price has jumped to $3 a pound, and most of them are beat to hell.
I actually saw a broken anvil yesterday! The last 3 inches of the horn was busted off, and one of the feet of the base was busted off, and they were still asking over $150 for it.

-Brad

Brad,
Anvils are hot items at the Blacksmith show. Average "full-size" anvils seem to be $300 and up, with smaller or damaged anvils at $250 or so. Some are priced up to $700-800, if they are interesting shapes, or otherwise rare. My own personal anvil is a Peter Wright, and I have learned that they are very desirable, and bring premium prices.

 

[Lump]

I started sorting through my box lots of recent tool hauls, and just finally decided to load a TON of stuff. I've filled my 26 foot enclosed trailer. I have about 20 vises, several grinders, and lots of tools. Whew...I'm exhausted already!

 

[north]

Thanks Lump, really enjoying these threads. Sign me up for pics of nicely shaped chunks of metal.

 

[justin10054]

Just got back from Ohio last night. I didn't have my camera with me, so I didn't get any pictures except for this cell phone pic of Union Terminal in Cincinnati (which, by the way, is the coolest building I have ever been in).

I didn't come back with too much stuff. I got a Stanley #6, two Disston handsaws that are still straight, and a bunch of Plomb tools. I met Lump and bought some tools from him.
My father bought some tongs and some tool steel and he also placed an order for a new anvil which should be showing up some time next month.

Here are my purchases:

I've already got that 1162 in the electrolysis bucket:

 

[jamesemery728]

Patiently waiting for your return with tons of stuff and pictures.

 

[BWS]

Good luck on your trip.

See if linky below works.Williamsburg sort of F**ked up their last Blacksmith shop due to some foundation problems....don't get me started on that.It was embarrassing to say the least.

But,they've moved into their new shop.Haven't been yet but looking fwd to it.I was hanging out at the joiners shop for a week while they were building the windows for the new place.....pretty cool.



http://www.history.org/almanack/life/trades/tradebla.cfm

 

[Lump]

Nice to have met you there, Justin. Looking forward to seeing step-by-step progress on that big DBE Plomb wrench. Maybe you should start a separate thread, and let us all see the progress.

 

[Lump]

Ok, I owe you all an apology, I guess. I went to the Troy Swap Meet alright. My sons and I set up the largest vendor booth I have ever been part of. Indeed, I was worn out long before we finished setting up. You see, when I was loading stuff at home, I got a little disgusted with myself, for having so many boxes of unsorted tools all over the place. So, I decided to take EVERY SINGLE BOX I had full of tools from recent "hauls," which had not yet been sorted out by brand name. My theory was that, whenever there weren't any customers shopping at my booth, I would drag out a box or two, and sort them by brand names. That way, when I got back home, I could finally put all tools of the same brand in the bins I have here. Then whenever a GJ member asks me if I have a certain tool or not, I can search just one location, and give them a straight answer.

The problem turned out to be that I had a LOT of boxes of unsorted tools! So I ended up spending hours and hours and hours sorting tools...whenever I wasn't waiting on customers. Therefore....I never did walk to the other end of the fairgrounds to see the blacksmith show! But I did end up selling quite a bit of my old rusty junk.

And, I DID take several photos at the show...but just of my own booth. This is just one small corner of my display. It goes back to the yellow ladder in this photo:

This next photo is another corner of the booth that my sons and I occupied. They had the end farthest away in this photo, close to the open door. They buy/sell/trade video games...just about the opposite of my old-school tools and other "old-timer man-junk."

No one picked up, or even asked a price on the speeder wrenches. Sigh. Guess I'm just a dinosaur.

That big dark colored tool box is an old Snap On box, filled with OLD 5/8" drive Snap On tools. Several people looked at it, but none seemed very interested.

I had quite a few bench vises there. Many people looked at them, but only one or two sold.

Everyone wanted my old twin-screw chain vise...if they could get it for $20 or so!

More photos of my vises:

Next photo is a large old Rock Island. It has 4 or 4.5" jaws, if IIRC:

Oops. SWMBO has put dinner on the table, and I LOVE to eat. More pix later.

 

[nine4gmc]

I could spend all day looking through your booth!!

 

[Lump]

Ok, now for some more pix from the show:

I put all the Asian wrenches I get into my "$1 tub". I also toss in US-made cheapo's, and other wrenches which are welded, cut off, etc. This time an Amish gentleman came in and picked out all of the little old stamped-steel wrenches I had, such as those little cheapies which come in dimestore "home tool kits" and like those which come with grinders, etc, for changing accessories. He said he has been having trouble reaching nuts in thin locations, and decided to get an assortment of flat tools.

I've sold a lot of these cheapie wrenches out of that dollar tub, but sometimes I think they aren't really worth the weight to carry them around? My sons get tired of loading them, so they made me a "Sunday Special Offer" sign this time, but no one took them up on it. LOL. I've sometimes wondered about scrapping these things.

Usually whenever I set up, I have a "Dollar table," with everything on it for just one buck per item. It saves a lot of time pricing things, and some people seem to love shopping through the stuff. But this time I had so much other stuff that I didn't have enough tables, so I left it all in this tub. But people weren't interested in searching through all that ****, so I sold almost nothing out of there this time. As you can see, my sons decided to "help out the old man," with another "Sunday Special Offer" sign.

I USED to have 3 metal tool boxes filled with Asian sockets for sale. There was one with 1/2", one with 3/8," and one with 1/4." The little sockets were priced at 2 for a quarter, mid-sized a quarter each, and deep well or impact sockets were 50 cents each. Only a couple sold, until Sunday when a guy came up and looked them over for a bit, and then said, "What would you take for ALL of them?" (My kind of guy!) So I after looking them over, I said, "I'll cut you my very-best Sunday special price; give me $50." He didn't hesitate, handing me the money on the spot. My two sons could hardly contain their joy at not having to load them for the trip home.

After buying so many tool box lots full, I have ended up with quite a lot of auger bits, etc. I have some nice ones in my shop for my own use, so this time I just put some of them in a box at a buck apiece, to see if any would sell. One lady picked up one, paid me the dollar, and told me she planned to put it in some kind of artsy-fartsy flow pot. No one else even looked at them.

Since I have been buying tool box lots for so long, I have ended up with quite a lot of tool boxes over the years (the same with fishing tackle boxes, for the same reason). And I have found them hard to get rid of. So this time I took a couple dozen hand-carry-size metal tool boxes with me. And once again, not one single tool-guy even looked at them. But late on Saturday a lady came up to me and asked me how much I wanted for one box. I was surprised to find that she had picked out the worst tool box I had brought along. I had never expected anyone to buy it...a no-name special with lots of dents and rust. I suggested better boxes, but she wanted that one. I offered it for one dollar, and she handed me the money. Then she told me that she planned to plant flowers in it, and make artsy-fartsy flower arrangements in unusual containers (yes, she was the partner to the lady to bought the drill bit!) She then began asking prices for my other metal tool boxes, and ended up buying about ten of them! I kept out a few nicer ones, but she bought all the rest. Since those others haven't sold at any of the sales I have taken them to...oh well. But it sure seems like a waste to me!!

Here are some photos of boxes that I did NOT sell for flower pots:
Snap On:

Hip roof SK Sherman Klove:

Flat lid SK:

Proto crinkle finish:

Ok, that's enough for one post. Next I will post the photos of all the name-brand tools which I sorted out over all those hours on Saturday and Sunday at the show.