The Eye-Popping Blacksmith Workshop From American Pickers
After watching just a couple of episodes of History's "American Pickers," it's plain as day to see that Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz are two guys who simply love history. Sure, they want to make a profit out of anything nice they find, but part of the thrill for them also comes down to rummaging around to see what they can find. They stumble upon an old house on the side of the road, and even though they don't know exactly what could be in the garage or storage shed, they go in anyway. What may look like junk to one person is valuable treasure to the pickers.
Sometimes, the location is more of an attraction than any stuff they could wind up selling. For some of these excursions, it's like stepping inside of a time machine and going to a different era of America where each building looks ever so slightly different from one another. That was the case for the Season 18 outing on "Frank's Big Day" when the guys come across a genuine blacksmith workshop.
The blacksmith workshop was a family heirloom
For this episode, Wolfe and Fritz meet some guys who own an old blacksmith workshop that still has a ton of cool pieces inside. Blacksmith is a bit of a lost profession, so the ability to check out this piece from America's past was a real find. The only problem is that the men who look over the building don't want to give away anything. Their ancestors owned the workshop and made many of the pieces featured in the episode, so they don't want to part with these items that are essentially family heirlooms.
Wolfe does manage to strike a couple of deals. He finds an old-school metal sign holder he purchases for $90. Then he comes across an old "Speedwagon" sign that would really spruce up an antique vehicle. He buys that one for $80. It's a miracle he manages to walk out of the workshop with anything. The sellers have too much sentimentality attached to the family legacy to give up any of the metal, but Wolfe makes sure to let them know that if they decide to sell anything else to give him a call.
More than anything, the segment shows just how far Wolfe and Fritz will go to land a deal. They climb up the walls and get down on their knees, searching for treasures, getting pretty dirty in the process. It just goes to show, you never know what you might find in an abandoned-looking building on the side of the road.