Mid-West Tool Collector's Spring National Meet
Milwaukee Wisconsin. June
14th-16th 2007
Why Oh Why are these meets scheduled to keep people away?
There's a very good chance that if you're a person into woodworking who enjoys the quiet, therapeutic and safety benefits of using handtools, you would LOVE to attend a M-WTCA meet like this. Imagine going to your local flea market and finding the entire place full of nothing but old tools? Imagine that the sellers knew what they were selling you, and they could offer advise on how to make your new tool work correctly and therefore make your woodworking more fun and rewarding? Imagine if those sellers actually enjoyed seeing the tools going to folks who would take care of them and use them carefully for as long as they were able?
Sounds like a dream doesn't it?
It's not a dream, but in the case of the big national M-WTCA meets, you'll probably have to take 2 or 3 days off work to get the full benefit of your membership. If you're retired, that's great, but if you're not, what's the true cost of buying a nice old user plane, saw or brace?
Many of us have noticed how much old tool buying and selling has gone online in the past 10 years. It's easier for sellers to move items and it's easier for buyers to see a wide variety of tools. The difference is that we've also had to pay the price of buying tools sight-unseen from sellers who might specialize in depression glass instead of woodworking tools. We've paid hundreds or more dollars in shipping costs and other fees.
I'm not proposing that the electronic marketplaces are bad in general. I am saying that at a National M-WTCA meet, you can buy literally *EVERYTHING* you would need to fully equip your shop in one weekend and for less money than it would cost buying the same stuff online.
The problem is that if you factor in the lost wages or vacation days, the travel and the hotel bills so you can attend a show that effectively begins on Wednesday night and lasts until Saturday, well, there goes your savings.
What can be done about this?
It's pretty simple: Start the meet on Saturday morning.
The first big event of a M-WTCA meet is the "Tailgate"*. It begins before dawn and sellers roll into the parking lot over a few hours and open their trucks and cars to lay out tons and tons of great tools. This is the main buying opportunity for new members. It costs nothing to sell, so the deals are great. You'll see everything here from Barnes treadle lathes, to 1/32nd letter stamps and everything in between. The tailgate could happen on Saturday morning, allowing for travel after work on Friday. If a person needs to leave a little early on Friday to get to the meet, that's not going to be as big a deal to the boss as asking for all of Thursday and Friday off.
The second big thing at the meet is the "Trading Room". This is the huge indoor ballroom that has rows and rows of tables full of tools. You'll find more fancy, expensive and collectable tools in here.The good news to users is that for every Israel White Plow Plane a dealer finds, he or she will find dozens and dozens of Stanley planes, Disston saws and Whitherby chisels. You know... the things we users need for our shops. And since serious collectors tend to buy only the most fine examples of what we want, the prices for the less than perfect tools is usually less than the price we'd pay for the same tool online.
There are usually a few presentations at the meet too. These are geared mostly towards collectors and presented by experts in their specific field of tool collecting. These are almost always really educational even for a user. It's always good to learn more about your hobby. You aren't a serious collector now, but you never know! You may learn that one of your flea market finds is a rare and valuable tool. The presentations are usually in the evening Saturday night is perfect for this.
Another great feature of the show are the displays and demonstrations. I saw one display of every #2 sized plane ever made including history, location etc. It was amazing. Another great demonstration was watching Tom Latané inlaying sterling silver into a traditional axe head. These things you can only really grasp by seeing them. The demonstrations and displays happen while the trading room is open.
The next morning, the Trading Room opens again. You run around trying to remember where that Yankee brace was that you wanted to wait for. Is it sold? Can he do better on the price? If you're lucky, it's there and the seller makes you a great deal so he won't have to carry it home.
The rest of the time, you hang out with friends old and new. You tell stories, eat local food, drink local drinks and generally have a great relaxing time. Attending these events, meeting people and learning about tools is what belonging to a club like this is all about. It would seem that the club would recognize this and try to find new ways to attract new members and bring the world of old tools to a wider audience.
How can you help?
If you feel that you may be a potential New Member of the Mid-West Tool Collectors organization, just waiting for a few changes to be made before you would join the group, you can click on the link below and send a nice, polite note to the club asking them to become a more member-friendly group.
Suggested talking points:
Schedule the National Meets so that I don't have to
take so much time off work to attend.
I need the tools that your members are selling. Please help put members
who use tools together with members who sell tools
Add information on your website for woodworkers, because woodworkers of
today are the collectors of tomorrow.
Could you create a knowledge base? It seems your older members know a lot
about tools that would benefit us new members.
How about offering new members 1/2 price admission to one National Meet
held during the year that they join the M-WTCA?
Feel free to add other suggestions that you feel would help entice you to join up. But again, be polite and friendly and make your suggestions positive ones! Please don't use this link to complain.
This is about 1/12th of the tailgate. The parking lot was large and all ours, so the trucks and cars full of tools were able to space themselves out. Unlike a flea market, the sellers usually have as much rom as they need to lay out several tables, workbenches and large tools that would normally take up too much space.
Here Jim Crammond says hello to Wayne Anderson while Mike "Rat" Urness consults with an unknown attendee.
Wayne had this little guy tucked into his pocket. It's made with steel sole, Damascus steel sides and Ebony infill.
Other Wayne Anderson Stuff. Use your back button to return.
See? This is what I'm talking about. Pat Leach is one of dozens of M-WTCA
tool sellers who scour the globe to find tools of all types and levels
of rarity. You can buy
something
that's
one
of few known to exist if that's your thing, or you can buy something you
need for a general use around your shop. It's all here in the parking lot
and in the Trading Room at an M-WTCA meet. The smaller Area meets have the
same things going for them, but on a slightly smaller scale.
You can click here to find an area meet that may be coming up near you. follow the "calendar" and "area map" links. CLICK.
For a huge version of this picture, click here. Use your back button to return.
This is a tinsmith seaming tool. It's blacksmith made and in fantastic condition. Most of these are simple tools that leave a raised rib on sheet metal to strengthen and stiffen whatever the tinsmith is making. This one is pretty special because it's got a nice profile in 2 sizes.
Click for more pictures. Use your back button to return.
Not all the tools are cheap. That's a $185 travisher in boxwood on the bottom. Can't afford it? Just ask the seller if he minds you taking a photo or two and use the design as a pattern to make your own. Gil Chesbro can show you how.
This photo has mixed emotion attached to it.
Why? Well, it's great to see that guy smiling and playing pool at a national meet. Last year he was hanging out with Doctors and not smiling much.
The bad news? That jukebox in the background eats quarters and plays the worst selection of music on the planet. Yes, the planet! I bet the jukebox at the American Girl store tea room is better than this one. This juke has everything from Scorpion to Bette Midler. (I apologize for anyone who takes offence by that.)(Yes, I mean "for".)
If you're ever near the Milwaukee airport, stop into the Four Points hotel and see for yourself. It's down by the pool table in the bar. Hmmmm: would I rather sit in coach all the way to New Guinea, or would I rather listen to that jukebox for 2 hours? Tough choice.
Says he can't play pool but he does pretty well.
There's that darn jukebox again. Shania, Garth, Frank Sinatra , (That's one of 2 good albums, the other was The Mighty Blue Kings.)U2,(Good, but overplayed) Journey, and some really bad compilations that only have the worst songs by unknown artists.