Trip to the M-WTCA in Columbus Ohio

This week the Mid-West Tool Collectors organization held their spring meeting in Columbus, Ohio.   I have always wanted to go to one of the great tool collector events but either I was busy or they were too far away.  I have attended Ohio Tool Collector events but the M-WTCA is the big daddy of tool events.  Now after a 10 year absence from Ohio, the event was only 2 hours from my home.  I would not miss out.
I joined the M-WTCA so I could attend the event, since it is for members only.   I was surprised to find that they have thousands of members and they sent me a current members directory and copies of the last 3 Gristmill publications. Great reading.
I did not have any special tools that I was looking for but took some cash to buy something that I might find I could not live without.  
I drove down on Thursday to the Tailgate Meeting, which is outside in a flea market atmosphere.  All of the tool sellers and traders were set up in the parking lot with their goods on display on tables, trucks and the ground.  It took quite awhile to make it around to all of the set ups.   I did buy a Stanley #3 for Doug Moulder for a real bargain.

This is a good user plane, not one that would be on a shelf to be admired.  Very little clean up to be done.
I did meet up with a few of fellow SAPFM members, Jim Crammond, Andrew Messimer and Ben Brungs.

On Friday, the indoor meeting began at 10am in the main exhibition rooms.  The hall was very large and there were 50 or more tables to explore.  Quite a display.

It took me hours to explore all of the displays.  Here are some interesting
wood braces.

After all of the searching I did snag a couple of items for myself.  A couple of carving chisels, paring chisel, back saw and folding ruler.  There were a number of items I could have purchased but I did control myself.

In all, it was a great experience and I am looking forward to the next tool collector show for some more great finds.