I've been without tire irons for years. The local shop here puts tires on for near nothing for me but on the weekends or when helping out a friend I had to borrow them from someone else. Then a friend of mine got a flat within 10 minutes of riding the other week and he didn't have any tools or a spare tube or anything. We were away from town so I went riding by myself for an hour before heading back to camp to meet up with him and go home.
Now I scored a 12V heavy duty little air compressor and I have an aux tank to match it. I collected an old pair of tubes and these tools... now I can make some side money out at the riding trail hehe.