Just how Common is Smithing equipment in your area?

[tomhw]

With notable exceptions the South was not, and is not, heavily industrialized. Blacksmiths were in general demand but industrialized areas were, and are, centered on trading centers and resource rich areas like Richmond, Montgomery, Savanna, Charleston, Memphis, New Orleans, Shreveport, Natchez, and Vicksburg.

I doubt stories of Yankees damaging anvils- the demonical carpet-bagging Yankees were much too busy with other, more remunerative and less physically challenging, nefarious pursuits.

Most of the South was rural and, analogous to welding shops today, were small scale in nearly every village and plantation, and large machine and forging shops were concentrated in and near industrialized cities.

[Bentiron1946]

This is not hard and fast and as such there are exceptions to every rule but generally if you live in an older part of the United States your chances of finding blacksmithing equipment goes up, if you live in an area of the United States that had a large contingent of farmers you stand a better chance than if you live in an are that was dominated by large ranches, also if you live in an area that had a fair amount of small manufacturing facilities and light industry you stand a better chance. Out here in the sparsely settled West where the Spanish dominated and were widely scattered and English speaking settlers didn't start arriving until after the mid 1800's you don't find an abundance of blacksmith tooling. Also there have been two periods of decimation for old tooling in the United States and one involved the invention of electricity which rendered a lot of hand cranked tools obsolete and the other even worse event for blacksmith tools was the metal drives of WWII. My grandfather's smithing equipment, according to my uncle, was gladly donated to the war effort just to clear space in the barn. I thought it sad and his response was "Who in the hell needs an anvil these days!", many also felt that way. No more horses or equipment to repair on the farm, get rid of the stuff to maintain it, all he need now was an arc welder and the John Deere dealer.

[ThomasPowers]

Hey folks get off the internet and start talking to people! I live in a tool poor region yet when I needed an anvil for a friend I had one in less than a week talking to people---a retired rancher in his 80's gave me a Swedish cast steel anvil in nearly mint condition! And there has *NEVER* been on like it on Craigslist for this area. (Fact only one I can recollect on CL in years for this area was a Cast iron anvil...being sold by a guy I know.)

[macbruce]

Its pretty much everwhere around here
But the country pretty much started here so its been going on for a good long while.
I seem to just fall over stuff all the time from very small to very large , sometimes at pretty decent prices too.
Plus I buy and sell on ebay and there is always Quadstate ( an absolute mecca for blacksmithing tools )
I have lots of anvils and post vises and some unique blacksmith tools that ive picked up along my travels.
The only time that I go looking for anything specific is when I go to Quadstate and there is a good chance that there will be several items to pick from
.

Quadstate????

[KYBOY]

Huge blacksmith gathering in Troy, Ohio every fall..September 23th-25th this year I think..

Quadstate????

[Bentiron1946]

McBruce you may want to look in this group and attend a meeting and see what you can scare up in the way of tools and information on blacksmithing. I'm sure that they too have an annual meet albeit smaller than Quadstate but similar where they have demonstrations and swap tails or tales. http://www.rockymountainsmiths.org/

[ThomasPowers]

I'm planning to attend Quad-Sate Blacksmiths Round-Up this fall driving in from New Mexico---in a 22 year old pickup with no airconditioning or cruise control---it's *that* *good*!

[Bentiron1946]

If I can get my one ton running maybe I'd drive over and go with you, it has cruise control I ain't never been that far East before :o

[Hayden H]

I've got family friends that have lived in my area for 75+ years, I have heard of 1 smithy, and someone else said, it washed down the river last time there was a gulley washer., I don't know that for sure, but I do know, when I come across smithing stuff its either somewhere I don't wanna go, or its at the "crazy old man on the hill". Either way, I usually ask, but most of the time the answers the same, "Sent it to the scrap yard last week"

[ThomasPowers]

So have you taken a box of doughnuts or a 6 pack of brown pop (depending on your age and inclinations) over to the scrap yard and asked them to give you a holler with something comes in as scrap that you might could use?

I have no problem buying stuff from a scrapyard at a price that makes them a profit.

One thing that has helped me was I went to vistaprint and got a bunch of cheap business cards with my name and address and phone number (and e-mail) that I can scatter to folks who "might" run across some smithing stuff sometime. Worked so well my last place that when I moved here I sprung for a fancier card---has colour flames on the front that helps remind folks of me when it's stuck on the fridge or in a wallet.

[cheftjcook]

Not a whole lot in Northern New Jersey. what you do find can often be pricey, really have to look around.

[ThomasPowers]

I found quite a lot inside Columbus OH city limits.

I agree I didn't find much when I lived in Holmdel NJ but I did find some at the Fleamarket at Englishtown for a decent price.

[K. Bryan Morgan]

Like Frosty said, finding blacksmithing tools in Alaska is like pulling hens teeth. Very difficult to find and when you do they want a truckload of gold for them. I saw a 50-60 lb arm and hammer anvil at a place and the guy wanted $400 for it. Other than somethings I was lucky enough to find here locally thats it in two years of beating the bushes. Its either abandoned at the old old mining sites or, rusting away in an old barn. I havn't been able to find anything since I bought some tools alittle over a year ago. If it wasn't for Ebay and the internet I wouldn't have what I have.