Vendigroth

About the place, really.

1: If you're workn form a billet, heat it up, or just the working area, and hit it down one side, then turn it through 90 degrees and hit it down the side again, turn, hit, etc. repeat and reheat as necessary. You can also draw out a billet by putting grooves into it with a fuller or hammer perpendicular to the direction you want it to stretch in. 2: not sure, sounds complicated. 3: i use a 2 pound hammer mostly, but then again, i'm not really muscly. A good hammer is one that gives you control and force. control's most important. Also, good forging hammers are "crowned", in that they have the angular transition between face and flat ground out smooth-ish, so they don't leave big square-ish dents in the steel. 4: When steel's ready to be hardened, it becomes non-magnetic. magnets don't stick to it. thisd is usually an orange-ish colour, but depending on lighting, etc, colour isn't a good guide at all. Use the magnet test, it's the best way 5: Flux is used in forge welding (and other jobs) to get the crap out of a weld. once the billet of steel's been put together and heated to cherry red, flux (borax that's been roasted in the oven to get the chemically-bonded-in water out of it, so it doesn't boil off the steel) is sprinkled on, then the billet's heated up and the welding operastion continues. 6: heh, i wanted to say that i couldn't help you with this, but now i think about it, maybe i can. you might like to point out the following ideas: SMALL coal forges typically contain no more active fuel than a common barbeque, and a small forge is all you're going to need, to get started, really. (i used that argument, it worked well.) The little gas forge i made, when properly secured, is practically impossible to knock over, and gives good heats, as long as you give it enough time to heat the steel. like any piece of machinery, forges need careful handling, but they're no more dangerous than your grinder, really, if you just pay attention to what you're doing.

dunno, they just turn up.....

OH HAI

I made a folding knive once. The spring's tricky, to say the least.

Aye, magic. Or maybe some sort of lens effect?

hello!

here ye go

i'spose someone with more pieces could add a proper barrel and handle, trigger mechanism, etc

it's only the firing mechanism, cos i don't have enough pieces to build a proper barrel or a trigger mechanism Tho if there was a barrel on it, it'd be breech-loading, i was pretty specific to make one like that. I'll have a pic in a couple hours or so.

I've spent far too much time watching movies and reading books. It's just something that sort of slips out, oh, and a practiced sense of humour's useful, too.