In Praise of the MWTCA

[Pete Taran]

Next week is the Mid West Tool Collector Associations Spring Tool Meet. This year it will be held in Springfield, IL. I'll be there for most of the week. If you have never been to a large tool meet, and you are within driving distance, you should seriously consider going. Especially if your local tool pickings are slim to none. There will be hundreds of vendors there with more tools in one place than you have ever seen in your entire life.

Things not to miss include the Thursday Early Morning tail gate. This starts before the sun is up and is mostly petered out by 9 am. The early bird really does get the worm. Friday the event moves inside with more formal trade tables set up. Saturday is more of the same.

You do need to be a member to participate in any of the events. Membership is cheap ($25) and gets you access to all the tool meets in addition to a really cool period book reprint which is sent out annually. You also get the quarterly publication "The Gristmill"

You can find out more details at www.mwtca.org If you are not a member and want to attend the meet, you can join at the conference. On Wednesday you can sign up from 2-6 at the registration. Hope to see some of you there! I've been a member since 1991. You won't regret it.

[Robert McNaull]

Pete, maybe the rules have changed, but I went last year when it was in Des Moines and I had to pay full registration just to go to the swap meet. I'm not saying it isn't worth it, just sharing information. The swap meet was pretty good, bought a few items. I didn't want to pay full registration because I couldn't make it to anything else because of work and could only make the swap meet in the early hours. There is a lot of good stuff there and is entertaining to watch some folks roll out their assortment of for sale items.

Bob

[Chuck Saunders]

So that's $64 registration plus $25 membership to go to a swap meet. I would need to be looking for something in particular. But I'm cheap that way
Chuck

[Pete Taran]

To call the MWTCA spring meet a mere "swap meet" is like calling WWII "a minor skirmish". There is a ton of trading that goes on, but it is a trade show, not a swap meet. There is an organized presentation schedule with presentations studies on various topics of old tools in addition to display tables showing examples of tools and even a women's auxiliary program. There are tours of items of interest around Springfield (tool related of course). Membership also allows you to attend your area meet, which is a smaller version of the national meet. If you drool at the finds that people post here of very nice user grade tools and have an old tool desert where you live, you will not regret the $89 to attend.

[Bruce Haugen]

"and even a women's auxiliary program."

Some years back I was at the cabin fever meet at Medina, MN, and I ran across a very attractive young woman. I commented that she was very generous to accompany her father or husband. Her reply was that she was the tool collector in the family, and that she was there with her new husband, who agreed to take time out of their honeymoon to go tool hunting. She picked up the interest from her dad.

[Ron Bontz]

Thanks for the heads up, Pete.
I rarely have a chance to go to trade shows, etc. In fact I think I have ben to maybe 3 local ww guild meetings. :(
Either way, I will be looking into it.
Best wishes,
Ron

[Pete Taran]

Ron,

I hope you can make it. If so, send me a PM and we can hold a saw maker's summit at the hotel bar.

Pete

[steven c newman]

I am a member of the group. However, I will be at Charles Neil's place that weekend..

[Allen Jordan]

Wish I were close enough to attend. I'm a member of the RMTC in Colorado, though.

[Ron Bontz]

Ron,

I hope you can make it. If so, send me a PM and we can hold a saw maker's summit at the hotel bar.

Pete
I am supposed to be working those days, but Springfield is only about an hour away. So maybe I'll get a day off. I am guessing all fees apply to just go and look around.

[Stew Denton]

Pete, thanks for the heads up, but it is a bit out of the way for me. Hopefully there will be one in driving distance some time. Be sure to post the event next year too, just in case it is close enough for me to go.

Stew

[Thomas Schneider]

I'm a member even though due to time and distance, I am unable to attend any of the meetings and events. As Peter said you get the quarterly "The Gristmill" that is greatly anticipated and read thoroughly as soon as it arrives! A great organization worth supporting!

[Ron Bontz]

I noticed this is four days long. For those that often go to these; what would be the best day to go, normally?
Thank you.

[Pete Taran]

Friday is a good choice. That's when the event moves inside and you can look at stuff carefully.

[Pete Taran]

Well, after a night at dinner catching up with some of my old tool collecting buddies, the day today started early at 4:30 am. A light rain kept the tailgating at bay until a little after 5 when it finally cleared off. Flashlights were out as people started to turn out to look for bargains. I didn't run into anyone from the Creek, but if you see me, stop and say hi. A few pictures of the tailgating event...most taken early.

By dawn's early light:
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True Tailgating:
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About 100 Vendors, most still setting up:
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About 2 hours of accumulation:
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[Pete Taran]

The second day of the show which is usually my last is when people move inside and sell on tables. Below are some pictures of that setup. While I didn't meet anyone saying they were from the Creek, I post this in hopes people will see it and decide to come next year. You can join anytime at mwtca.org and pay the anuual dues of $25 via paypal. It will be the best $25 you will ever spend.


The Leach Family. Patrick's wife Lisa and their tool sherpa son posing in front of their wares:
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A typical vendor table with assorted tools:
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A view of the entire trade floor:
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Not everything inside is tools for sale. There are many displays for members to check out. Below is a portion of one display showing some early Disston Handsaws, these in particular are very early #12s with cone shaped nuts:
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Another display, this one of a "so-called" factory Disston Eagle Head Saw. Quite a few of these have shown up, but I'm not convinced they were made by Disston, more likely someone who was trying to make a name for themselves as an aftermarket effort. Still very cool and interesting:
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To give you an idea of the bargains to be had, I picked up this ECE smoother for $15. Have never fooled around with one, and figured this would be a great way to evaluate their performance at peanuts prices:
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Finally, my greatest find. If you have ever lamented having to move your saw in a 9" saw vise, you need to step up to the big leagues with this behemoth. Weighing over 60# and having 32" wide jaws, no moving is required with this fantastic saw vise:
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The fall show is in Memphis, TN from 27-30 September. It's usually a little smaller than the Spring Meet, but still a lot of fun and worth attending. I hope to see some of you there.