Ok, here are pictures of my aquisitions from the last two weekends. Also to show that you can get started in blacksmithing for quite a low cost overall.
I picked up this firepot / standalone forge made from a brake drum and welded up with a clinker breaker and ash dump, and the gorgeous handcrank blower at the new england blacksmith's spring meet. This blower is in imaculate shape. You know you have a really good blower when you crank it and let go and it keeps turning around for a while after you stop. I paid $200 for the forge and blower.
http://www.tharkis.com/images/coalforge.jpg
I then hit the hardware store near me which i found out actually will get bituminous smithing coal and bought 250lbs for ~50 bucks
http://www.tharkis.com/images/coal.jpg
Then this last weekend I picked up this huge shear and this small leg vise (with excelent threads) for 50$ together
http://www.tharkis.com/images/shear.jpg http://www.tharkis.com/images/smallvise.jpg
I'm going to build a portable mount for the vise, because my large shop vise is attached to my bench, and weighs over 110 lbs without the bench, so it's not very portable.
Lastly I purchased this 125lb stake anvil (yes 125lbs, aka monstrous for a stake anvil, largest I've seen myself) for 105$
http://www.tharkis.com/images/stakeanvil.jpg
True, Iv'e spent a lot of money in the last 2 weeks on more smithing equipment for my shop, but when you look at it, for 405$ plus some gas, Iv'e in the last 2 weeks obtained a complete forging setup, including vise, anvil, and fuel for a LOT of forging. Yet relativly that's a very very small amount of money I've spent by being patient and doing a decent bit of driving to get to the right places >_<