I bought a few Iron In The Hat tickets, and got lucky Saturday. Won a copy of RECIPE'S IN IRON by Francis Whitaker and a couple of steel balls that I can think of a use for. (No smart comments! Grin)

And I bought a couple of things I've been wanting to get from the tail gate area..

Which brings me to a point!

Just one of many tailgaters at Spring Fling! You can find these guys at chapter meets all over the country.

THE Point. . . I constantly hear "I can't find an anvil!", "I can't find a post vise!" "I can't find any blacksmithing tools at all!"

Horse #####! We keep telling you to join your local ABANA chapter. We keep telling you to go to Spring Fling, Madison, CanIron, ABANA, etc. And we keep telling you to go to as many of your local meetings as you can MAKE time for. Notice I didn't say find time for, I said MAKE time for. Not only will you enjoy most of the meetings, but you'll also meet other local smiths, have the opportunity to buy, sell, and trade for tools. And you can get a dozen ideas at any one meeting.

I counted over 50 tailgate sales folk at Spring Fling. Well over a hundred anvils ranging in size from 4 ounce souvenir's to one 400 pound monster.

I also counted 40 some odd post vises. Bought one for myself as it happens.

And enough tools to outfit a couple of dozen blacksmith shops. Including power hammers. One tailgater alone had six treadle hammers for sale.

These folks spend months getting stuff together for these events. Chasing all over the map finding it at auctions and sales. Days on end in the shop making some of it, and making parts so that what they've bought will work well for you.

They've got a right to make a profit! So you won't find CHEAP tools, but you will find GOOD tools.

Even though they aren't cheap, they also aren't as expensive as buying new. Occasionally you can run into a real bargain. I saw a bunch of post vises, ranging in price from $60 to $300. Know what a new post vise costs? $1,200! And that's for a 4" vise. A 6" will cost you $1,440. I paid less than a tenth of that for the 6" vise I bought. Of course, you may have to make a spring, but you ARE a blacksmith, you should be able to either figure out how or find out how to make a spring. You can always ask here at Anvilfire.

And the friendships that form at events like the Spring Fling are priceless!