I'll preface this by saying I belong to both the MWTCA and EAIA and
probably will be a member for life.

Having said that, the "greying problem" can't be a surprise to either
of them. Both organizations are virtually irrelevant to the younger
generations interested in hand tools today. There is a _tremendous_
amount of interest in hand tools among younger people (say 40 and
younger). The thing is, these guys and girls want tools to use in
their shops. The demand and market for user hand tools is higher than
ever. These people couldn't care less about collecting. In fact,
collectors are often vilified as hoarders.. greedy batards who are
keeping all those good tools for themselves. They don't want to be
collectors. Have you read the EAIA or MWTCA periodicals from the
perspective of a hand tool woodworker not interested in collecting?
There's nothing there of interest to them. You might as well send them
the AARP magazine. Have you looked at the schedule of events at a
MWTCA meet from the perspective of a woodworker? There's not much draw
there other than the tailgate sale.

The thing is, the younger generations are going to be the next
generation of tool collectors once they gain some age, maybe some
extra income, and time. Both the EAIA and MWTCA would do well to draw
them in with some content that actually interests them while
continuing to discuss the history and development these of tools so
the collecting seed is sewn and maybe they start buying rare tools and
attending the MWTCA meets later in life.

I think about this a lot, as you can tell. I had more to say but I'm
running out of steam and the Sox just tied it up so my attention is
elsewhere ;)

Josh in CT